fic - back porch [haven]
Title: Back Porch
Series: Moments of Haven
Summary: In which we start out talking about back porches, but digress significantly from there.
Back Porch
A Moment of Haven
Heero dropped the loaded laundry basket on the floor between them and sat down on the sofa. "Duo... just as a thought... what do you think about our back porch?"
He turned his head in Heero's direction, but took a few extra seconds to finish reading what he'd been reading before turning his eyes and his attention to match. "What do you mean?"
"It's... a little worn out in places."
"Well, yeah, but..." He paused, and then a little smirk started to creep in on the corner of his mouth. "You wanna rebuild it?"
Heero shrugged, reaching into the basket of clean whites to start folding it. "I'm not seriously considering it. I just wanted to put that out there."
Right. Duo pursed his lips in thought. Sure, the railing was a little unstable and creaky sometimes. And it could probably use a little repainting. And at least one of the planks sealing the bottom was showing signs of rot. "It could definitely use some... freshening up. Since we're out there anyway..."
"Planting should probably come first, though. If we want to stick to Mother Nature's schedule."
"Yeah..." He watched as Heero pulled another pair of underwear from the basket, fluffed it into orderliness, and set it down on the right stack. "Heero... did you wear boxer-briefs during the war?"
Heero blinked at him. "No."
"Are you sure?"
Another blink. "Yes."
"Then how come you didn't show any panty lines under those skintight shorts of yours?"
Heero would always be impressed by Duo's powers of digression. "They weren't skintight."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes."
"Why not? I mean, if they're going to make 'em *practically* skintight, then why not just make 'em *actually* skintight?"
Heero gave him a look that at best could be called 'skeptical'. "I wore clothing designed to ensure freedom of movement. One does not achieve freedom of movement by constantly having to stop one's shorts from riding up one's ass."
Duo couldn't really find a major flaw in that argument. "You're not being tested on your ability to shimmy into a flight suit in the shortest possible time anymore. Isn't it time you switched to boxers? That's like the ultimate in 'freedom of movement'."
"I happen to like knowing everything is where it belongs, thank you very much."
Duo's eyes dropped briefly to Heero's crotch. "Well, I happen to like knowing where your everything is, too, but... okay, not that you can't rock the whitie-tightie look, 'cuz you do, but I bet you'd rock the boxer look even more, too."
"What's your investment in this?"
"Me?" Duo smiled with unconvincing innocence. "It's spring! Just trying to improve the view. Freshen things up."
Heero looked steadily at him for a few seconds before pointedly starting to match the loose socks. "We were talking about the back porch, weren't we?"
"I wouldn't mind hanging out on your back porch." He leered rather cheerfully at Heero's bemused look, then shrugged unapologetically. "I saw some pics of some pretty awesome decks. But I wasn't really thinking about them. Seems sort of counterintuitive to cover up the dirt with wood."
Moving along seemed like a good idea, so Heero went with it. "I just wanted to bring up the possibility. If we wanted to do work on it, then we probably shouldn't plan to plant anything around its perimeter."
"Ooh, that reminds me..." Duo dug up a link from a few sites ago and tilted his laptop monitor in Heero's direction. "Check that out. Not that it's appropriate in the slightest for our yard, but wouldn't that be awesome?"
Heero studied the elaborate built-in outdoor barbeque with a raised eyebrow. "You want to grill your food over an open flame? Why am I not surprised?"
"What? You're the total pyro here, not me."
"You're the one who likes setting the fires."
"You just like to watch?"
Preferrably from a safe distance. "If we get a grill, it's going to be one that doesn't require lighter fluid to start it up."
Duo gifted him with a patient look. "Babe, I've got not one, but two different kinds of detonator cords in the closet. Lighter fluid doesn't really turn me on in comparison."
"That's not reassuring in the slightest."
"I am totally capable of handling lighter fluid. I practically have certification to handle lighter fluid."
"Your 'certification' is for handling explosive materials, Duo."
"Yup."
Sigh. There were barbeques with simple pyro-proof on/off switches, right? "Propane surely falls under your 'certification' as well."
Well, of *course* he could do some lovely things with propane, too. Silly boy. "So you're pretty much saying we should buy a barbeque, right?"
"I did say 'if'."
"Aw, come on." Duo picked up a balled pair of socks between them and tossed it, hitting Heero in the middle of his chest. "We should totally do it. Wouldn't we be missing out on some sort of quintessential part of summer weekends in the 'burbs?"
Heero let his hands idly straighten up the sock pile as he filtered the words for the gist of things. Slow-cooking outdoors and enjoying the food on a lazy summer evening? He could get behind that. "Are you talking about having people over? Or just grilling a little something for ourselves?"
"We can host our own private little party, just the two of us."
"We need to get those screens up."
Duo smirked. "I don't know why we never thought to get a grill before. Even a small one. I think there's something, I dunno, satisfyingly caveman about charring our food outside over an open flame."
"I'm not sure cavemen actually cooked their food, Duo."
"Whatever. It's like getting back to the land or something."
"As long as you don't expect us to hunt our own animals, I'm fine with that." Heero transferred the stacks of clean whites back into the basket for transport, waiting expectantly for Duo to say something in response. When nothing was forthcoming, he glanced up and found Duo somewhat lost in thought. "Duo?"
"Huh? Oh." Duo slowly blinked himself back to the present. "Hey, I was just thinking... do you think we could... I mean, what do you think about...?"
Heero waited some more, but then decided to just cut to the end of the matter. "Yes."
"What?"
He shrugged. "Sure. Okay. Let's give it a shot."
Duo stared at him. "Give what a..." He trailed off with a small chuckle, then leaned over to place a soft kiss on Heero's mouth, his confidence restored and his reluctance banished. "I was thinking... maybe we could save a patch of dirt and... yanno, plant some fruits and veggies or something?"
"Fruits and veggies?" The idea had honestly never occurred to him.
"Yeah." Duo smiled hesitantly, but the expression firmed as he warmed to his topic. "I don't know if you have to have special dirt for that or whatever, but we can totally research it, and I guess if it doesn't work, it doesn't work, or oh! Containers! Something somewhere said we could just get containers and fill them up with whatever kind of dirt we need, so we could do that. Yeah, we wouldn't be able to grow that much but... can you just imagine it? How awesome would that be?"
"Fruits... and vegetables?" Heero repeated slowly, trying to figure out the appeal. He liked the practicality of it, of growing something that they could not just look at but also eat, but he was fairly certain the practicality wasn't something that would attract Duo. "I don't know. How awesome would it be?"
"Aw, come on, you love fruits and vegetables!"
"Well, yes, of course. I'm not trying to shoot you down or anything. I'm just trying to understand your sudden enthusiasm for them."
Duo faltered for just a moment before switching his enthusiasm over to a shy sort of joy. "Just... growing our own food is kind of... mind-blowing to me. Sorry."
Heero rolled that around in his head for a few seconds before replying. "The easy abundance of fresh fruits and vegetables here compared to the colonies was... somewhat startling, in a way."
Duo nodded, happy that Heero was on the right track. "Yeah, and having it fresh in our own backyard would be like the ultimate extension of that..." He paused, then ruefully confessed the rest. "Hell, the easy abundance of plain and simple *food* pretty much everywhere but where I came from... was somewhat startling, in some ways."
"And having it fresh in our own backyard would be..."
"...Mind-blowing. Just... mind-blowing."
"...Okay. So let's start looking into backyard farming."
Duo nudged the laundry basket aside to make room for his feet, then practically crawled into Heero's lap for the sake of getting them close enough to share a computer screen. It was simply a happy coincidence that the proximity was more than sufficient for them to share some bodily fluids before commencing the research.
back to previous part
on to next part
Series: Moments of Haven
Summary: In which we start out talking about back porches, but digress significantly from there.
Back Porch
A Moment of Haven
Heero dropped the loaded laundry basket on the floor between them and sat down on the sofa. "Duo... just as a thought... what do you think about our back porch?"
He turned his head in Heero's direction, but took a few extra seconds to finish reading what he'd been reading before turning his eyes and his attention to match. "What do you mean?"
"It's... a little worn out in places."
"Well, yeah, but..." He paused, and then a little smirk started to creep in on the corner of his mouth. "You wanna rebuild it?"
Heero shrugged, reaching into the basket of clean whites to start folding it. "I'm not seriously considering it. I just wanted to put that out there."
Right. Duo pursed his lips in thought. Sure, the railing was a little unstable and creaky sometimes. And it could probably use a little repainting. And at least one of the planks sealing the bottom was showing signs of rot. "It could definitely use some... freshening up. Since we're out there anyway..."
"Planting should probably come first, though. If we want to stick to Mother Nature's schedule."
"Yeah..." He watched as Heero pulled another pair of underwear from the basket, fluffed it into orderliness, and set it down on the right stack. "Heero... did you wear boxer-briefs during the war?"
Heero blinked at him. "No."
"Are you sure?"
Another blink. "Yes."
"Then how come you didn't show any panty lines under those skintight shorts of yours?"
Heero would always be impressed by Duo's powers of digression. "They weren't skintight."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes."
"Why not? I mean, if they're going to make 'em *practically* skintight, then why not just make 'em *actually* skintight?"
Heero gave him a look that at best could be called 'skeptical'. "I wore clothing designed to ensure freedom of movement. One does not achieve freedom of movement by constantly having to stop one's shorts from riding up one's ass."
Duo couldn't really find a major flaw in that argument. "You're not being tested on your ability to shimmy into a flight suit in the shortest possible time anymore. Isn't it time you switched to boxers? That's like the ultimate in 'freedom of movement'."
"I happen to like knowing everything is where it belongs, thank you very much."
Duo's eyes dropped briefly to Heero's crotch. "Well, I happen to like knowing where your everything is, too, but... okay, not that you can't rock the whitie-tightie look, 'cuz you do, but I bet you'd rock the boxer look even more, too."
"What's your investment in this?"
"Me?" Duo smiled with unconvincing innocence. "It's spring! Just trying to improve the view. Freshen things up."
Heero looked steadily at him for a few seconds before pointedly starting to match the loose socks. "We were talking about the back porch, weren't we?"
"I wouldn't mind hanging out on your back porch." He leered rather cheerfully at Heero's bemused look, then shrugged unapologetically. "I saw some pics of some pretty awesome decks. But I wasn't really thinking about them. Seems sort of counterintuitive to cover up the dirt with wood."
Moving along seemed like a good idea, so Heero went with it. "I just wanted to bring up the possibility. If we wanted to do work on it, then we probably shouldn't plan to plant anything around its perimeter."
"Ooh, that reminds me..." Duo dug up a link from a few sites ago and tilted his laptop monitor in Heero's direction. "Check that out. Not that it's appropriate in the slightest for our yard, but wouldn't that be awesome?"
Heero studied the elaborate built-in outdoor barbeque with a raised eyebrow. "You want to grill your food over an open flame? Why am I not surprised?"
"What? You're the total pyro here, not me."
"You're the one who likes setting the fires."
"You just like to watch?"
Preferrably from a safe distance. "If we get a grill, it's going to be one that doesn't require lighter fluid to start it up."
Duo gifted him with a patient look. "Babe, I've got not one, but two different kinds of detonator cords in the closet. Lighter fluid doesn't really turn me on in comparison."
"That's not reassuring in the slightest."
"I am totally capable of handling lighter fluid. I practically have certification to handle lighter fluid."
"Your 'certification' is for handling explosive materials, Duo."
"Yup."
Sigh. There were barbeques with simple pyro-proof on/off switches, right? "Propane surely falls under your 'certification' as well."
Well, of *course* he could do some lovely things with propane, too. Silly boy. "So you're pretty much saying we should buy a barbeque, right?"
"I did say 'if'."
"Aw, come on." Duo picked up a balled pair of socks between them and tossed it, hitting Heero in the middle of his chest. "We should totally do it. Wouldn't we be missing out on some sort of quintessential part of summer weekends in the 'burbs?"
Heero let his hands idly straighten up the sock pile as he filtered the words for the gist of things. Slow-cooking outdoors and enjoying the food on a lazy summer evening? He could get behind that. "Are you talking about having people over? Or just grilling a little something for ourselves?"
"We can host our own private little party, just the two of us."
"We need to get those screens up."
Duo smirked. "I don't know why we never thought to get a grill before. Even a small one. I think there's something, I dunno, satisfyingly caveman about charring our food outside over an open flame."
"I'm not sure cavemen actually cooked their food, Duo."
"Whatever. It's like getting back to the land or something."
"As long as you don't expect us to hunt our own animals, I'm fine with that." Heero transferred the stacks of clean whites back into the basket for transport, waiting expectantly for Duo to say something in response. When nothing was forthcoming, he glanced up and found Duo somewhat lost in thought. "Duo?"
"Huh? Oh." Duo slowly blinked himself back to the present. "Hey, I was just thinking... do you think we could... I mean, what do you think about...?"
Heero waited some more, but then decided to just cut to the end of the matter. "Yes."
"What?"
He shrugged. "Sure. Okay. Let's give it a shot."
Duo stared at him. "Give what a..." He trailed off with a small chuckle, then leaned over to place a soft kiss on Heero's mouth, his confidence restored and his reluctance banished. "I was thinking... maybe we could save a patch of dirt and... yanno, plant some fruits and veggies or something?"
"Fruits and veggies?" The idea had honestly never occurred to him.
"Yeah." Duo smiled hesitantly, but the expression firmed as he warmed to his topic. "I don't know if you have to have special dirt for that or whatever, but we can totally research it, and I guess if it doesn't work, it doesn't work, or oh! Containers! Something somewhere said we could just get containers and fill them up with whatever kind of dirt we need, so we could do that. Yeah, we wouldn't be able to grow that much but... can you just imagine it? How awesome would that be?"
"Fruits... and vegetables?" Heero repeated slowly, trying to figure out the appeal. He liked the practicality of it, of growing something that they could not just look at but also eat, but he was fairly certain the practicality wasn't something that would attract Duo. "I don't know. How awesome would it be?"
"Aw, come on, you love fruits and vegetables!"
"Well, yes, of course. I'm not trying to shoot you down or anything. I'm just trying to understand your sudden enthusiasm for them."
Duo faltered for just a moment before switching his enthusiasm over to a shy sort of joy. "Just... growing our own food is kind of... mind-blowing to me. Sorry."
Heero rolled that around in his head for a few seconds before replying. "The easy abundance of fresh fruits and vegetables here compared to the colonies was... somewhat startling, in a way."
Duo nodded, happy that Heero was on the right track. "Yeah, and having it fresh in our own backyard would be like the ultimate extension of that..." He paused, then ruefully confessed the rest. "Hell, the easy abundance of plain and simple *food* pretty much everywhere but where I came from... was somewhat startling, in some ways."
"And having it fresh in our own backyard would be..."
"...Mind-blowing. Just... mind-blowing."
"...Okay. So let's start looking into backyard farming."
Duo nudged the laundry basket aside to make room for his feet, then practically crawled into Heero's lap for the sake of getting them close enough to share a computer screen. It was simply a happy coincidence that the proximity was more than sufficient for them to share some bodily fluids before commencing the research.
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