April 2001
"It was so awesome. Whatever animal I thought about was just... right there! We could pet them and everything. So I started thinking about a unicorn and one just appeared! Just like that. Linra was pretty upset that they're all extinct on Earth; she wanted one for pet. Then we had this music class. It was so weird, they put these things on our fingers that looked like thimbles but they make music when you move them through the air. Each finger makes a different note." Jazz shoved another piece of meat into his mouth. "And no one yelled at me for talking or told me to quit goofing off and get back to work. They said I could go back tomorrow, they said I could be a student there if I wanted, as long as you say it's okay. Please?"
"You're begging me to go to school." Duo shook his head. "I have to record the date, this is a historic moment. I practically have to shoot you out of a cannon to get there back home."
"Well, if schools at home were THIS cool I'd want to go." Jazz retorted. "Please, you just have to go there tomorrow and enroll me. They don't mind; they like me."
"Humm, I don't know. It might hurt Wufei's feelings."
Jazz frowned. "Yeah, I didn't think of that." He looked down sadly at his plate.
"I'm kidding. Of course you can go to school here. Wufei won't mind."
"Thanks, Pops. I'm done. Can I play with your VR station, Ojisan? I know how it works now."
"Sure. There are some pre-written scenarios on the disks and some blank ones. Knock yourself out." Heero urged.
"Thanks." He ran off toward what appeared to be a small computer and turned it on, fitting a helmet over his head.
"I thought we were going to get to play with that." Duo protested.
"Oh I promise, we'll get to that. I have some very special scenarios in mind. You know the nicest thing about VR?"
"What?"
"It's all mental. Which means anything goes. And you don't get tired, so no matter what you do while you're in it, you have your full energy when you come out of it." He leaned closer to Duo. "I intend to wear you out tonight. Over and over. Until you're screaming for mercy, and don't think I'm going to show you any. I've been planning this for way too long."
Duo choked on his water. "You fiend. Teasing me like this when you don't intend to do anything about it for hours yet."
"The VR is Jazz's for now but we can still have some fun in real life while he's busy with it." Heero shrugged. "Come down to the bedroom and I'll give you a preview."
"Oh..." Duo leaned closer and gave Heero a deep kiss. "I'd love to... but I promised the guys we'd spend the evening with them downstairs." He shrugged helplessly. "I don't break my promises."
"You're good." Heero growled. "But I'm putting this on your tab for later."
"What exactly else is on this tab?"
"Two bullet wounds, too many sleepless nights to count, before and after we were pledged, and numerous practical jokes, including what you did to my computer."
"You remember that, huh?"
Heero snorted and narrowed his eyes. "Oh, I remember."
Duo, in a moment of boredom, had taken a snapshot of Heero's computer desktop. He had then scanned it in, setting it as the wallpaper of the computer and deleting the icons. The result was a screen that looked perfectly normal, but would not respond to any attempts to click on it, as the icons were part of the wallpaper and not really there. Heero had almost been in tears before he had figured out what was wrong with it.
"So you've been keeping a 'Make Duo pay' list all this time. How come you didn't try and get back at me on the ship?"
"Because VR offers more possibilities to be diabolical. And I don't have to worry about bloodstains on the carpet." Heero explained.
"Don't you hurt my Pops!" Jazz was suddenly in Heero's face, eyes outraged. The boy had gotten up from his VR game for a drink of water and caught the tail end of their conversation. He had placed his body between Duo and Heero. "Don't you dare make him bleed!"
"Jazz, it's okay, we're just joking around." Duo soothed. "Just playing. No one's hurting anyone."
Jazz shook his head. "You shouldn't joke about that." He shivered.
"Jazz, what's wrong? Don't tell me nothing, either. What's the matter?"
"You shouldn't joke about hurting people." The boy insisted. "And blood. Pops, the blood..."
"What blood?"
"In my dream. There were bloody people everywhere. They kept grabbing me. They were dying, they wanted me to help, but I couldn't. I couldn't, and they kept bleeding..."
"It was a dream, Jazz. No blood, no one's hurt. But I know that dreams can be pretty scary."
"You think I'm being stupid, don't you."
"No, of course not. Why would I think that?"
"Cause when you dream, it's about stuff that really happened to you, not stuff your mind made up."
"Jazz, what do you know that?" Duo asked carefully.
"You talk in your sleep sometimes, Pops. I've heard you. I know people hurt you when you were a kid. I know they did bad stuff to you." Jazz admitted.
Heero's hand squeezed Duo's shoulder. The braided man tried to gather his thoughts for a conversation he had hoped was years away, or never. "That was a long time ago. Sometimes I do have bad dreams about it, but they're getting better. And they can't hurt me any more."
"I think you were really brave." Jazz hugged his father tightly and Duo embraced him back, taking strength from the small body. "You didn't let them lick you, Pops. You stayed alive. You won."
"You're right. I won." Duo said fiercely. "And no one will ever, ever hurt you like that. And Heero and I wouldn't ever really hurt each other. It's like that night I was dead to the world and you snuck up on me while I was asleep and gave me pig-tails. I told you I was going to hang you from the ceiling and beat you like a piņata. You didn't really think I was going to do that, did you?"
"Nah, I guess not." Jazz shrugged, embarrassed. "Sorry, Ojisan."
"Don't worry about it. Your dad is lucky to have you around to look out for him."
"I try, but he doesn't make it easy sometimes." Jazz sighed.
"Did you really give him pig-tails?"
"Yup. With pink ribbons." Jazz giggled. "I thought he'd wake up before I was done but he didn't."
"He also programmed that robot of his to hide and run out beeping whenever I walked by."
"Well, the apple didn't fall far from that tree." Heero noted.
"What's that mean?" Jazz asked.
"It means you're just like your father." Heero sighed. "You can't resist a chance to make someone jump around and scream."
"Pops taught me a lot of cool stuff." Jazz agreed. " Like having a bunch of different costumes for Halloween so you can hit the good houses more than once. "
"Duo!"
"Hey, that was supposed to be just between us." Duo protested as Jazz snickered. "See if I share my Special Dark with you again, Big Mouth."
"Aren't we supposed to be meeting the others downstairs?" Heero asked.
Duo nodded. "Hang a second. Do you have any pillowcases and sheets you're not fond of?"
"TRICK OR TREAT!"
Wufei glanced down at the sight outside of his door. Two ghosts, one a child, one a grown man kneeling on top of his shoes, were holding out pillowcases hopefully.
"Oh, aren't they cute?" Quatre said from over Wufei's shoulder. "Don't be a scrooge, Wufei. Give them something."
"Oh, I'll give them something all right. Get in here before the neighbors see you and think all of our kind are insane!"
The ghosts filed into the apartment, the bigger one carrying his shoes. Wufei shut the door. A second later there was another knock.
"Trick or treat!"
One pillowcase was pulled over the person's head like a mask; the other wrapped around his body like a toga over his clothing. He extended his empty treat bag toward Wufei. Blue eyes sparkled from inside the ragged holes in the pillowcase mask.
Wufei grabbed Heero's arm and pulled him into the apartment roughly, silently. Heero was shaking with quiet laughter as he removed the mask. "They made me do it."
The Chinese man huffed. "This apartment is overwhelming. We've been trying, the three of us, to learn what it does but I'll admit to being lost."
"Okay, that closet with the metal door is the transporter. There is a book, or should be. There it is. It's like a phone book, each transporter has it's own code. You watched Marti do it. You punch in the code and see if the transporter you want is available. If it is you press the confirmation button and there you are."
"And that?" Trowa pointed what looked like a dumbwaiter in the wall.
"Groceries. It's a transporter too, but not for people. You order from a computer. The money is deducted from your account and the food is sent to your transporter instantly. The reason the large one isn't used is because this one is refrigerated. You could order from work and come home to find your groceries waiting. You can also order other things from it like small tools. Not clothing. It's hard to explain but there was a huge legal battle over people replicating clothing designs illegally and selling them. On Dera, it was considered a big deal. So if you want clothing you have to go out and buy it. That's why we didn't just order Jazz up a pair of shoes last night."
"Order me a hoverboard like Linra's." Jazz urged.
"We'll talk about it." Duo replied, ignoring the look his son gave him for that.
Heero took them around Wufei's apartment, demonstrating the various features. "Throw your clothing in there when it's dirty. Give it 30 seconds and it's ready to wear again."
"The Quickbath is this. Step in and out and you're clean. But most people still enjoy a long, hot bath so that's available as well. Same plumbing as we're used to. Hot and cold water. The toilet flushes itself. That button on the side disables that feature."
"Why would you want to do that?" Quatre wrinkled his nose.
Duo chuckled. "Believe me, if you have a two-year-old you want time to grab your car keys and your wallet out before they're gone forever."
"Exactly. And if it backs up flushing is the last thing you want to keep doing."
"Bedroom. Bed is similar to hospital beds in our world. It has a temperature control and can be adjusted. It also can be set to mimic other kinds of beds. There's a waterbed feature, and a hammock and even a stone floor if that's what you want. You can control the mattress firmness as you like.
"Kitchen is made to appeal to people who love to cook and people who hate it. That's the refrigerator. You put stuff in from the top, not the side. You can cook it yourself on those burners on the counter, or you can put in that slot there and tell the computer what it is and how you want it fixed, and it'll do it for you. But I recommend cooking it yourself. It never seems to understand that brani bread should be burnt on the outside and raw inside."
"If you say so." That from Trowa.
"You know, that's all well and good but you said purchases would be deducted from our accounts. We don't have accounts." Wufei frowned.
"Yes you do. You're here as representatives of Earth and you each have access to as much cash as you need, as a thank-you for coming." Heero noticed Wufei's frown. "To refuse this would be a great insult. The Derans have a very strong sense of honor where guests are concerned."
"I... would not wish to offend them." Wufei said after a minute. "I will accept their money for that reason."
Duo suddenly had a flash of something. He knew Heero was lying, that the Japanese man had arranged for their needs to be deducted from his own account. He also understood that his friends might in pride refuse Heero's generosity, especially Wufei. Well, they wouldn't find out from him. But it made him love Heero all the more.
"That's a VR station." Heero explained how it worked, with Jazz relating his own experiences with the device. "They're fun but addictive. There are people who grow so dependent on them they no longer wish to function in the real world. It's like having a world where every desire is placed at your fingertips. But sometimes, it makes returning to reality very difficult."
"Like waking up from a good dream." Quatre said, looking at the machine with both respect and a little fear.
"They don't have television here." Jazz said thoughtfully.
"It's through the computer." Heero explained. "You can dial up the station if you want. Yes, station. They only have one. Television never really caught on here like it did in our world. They have a few craft shows and news broadcast each night. Most people prefer the VR or reading. Books are something we share with our cousins here."
"Everyone's read your book, Ojisan." Jazz commented. "My teacher had a bunch of questions for me about Ma and Pops."
"Your teacher?" Wufei frowned.
"I'm going to go to school here now. Um, that's okay, isn't it? I mean, you were a really good teacher but I like being around the other kids and..." Jazz cocked his head. "You aren't mad, are you?"
Wufei smiled. "No, I'm not mad. You should be with others your own age, and it will give me a chance to study this world in detail. Perhaps write a book of my own." He was going to miss arguing philosophy with the little heathen but he wasn't about to tell him that. "However, I was told there is an electronics museum not far from here. If you are free tomorrow evening, would you like to tour it with me?"
"Sure, that sounds like fun." Jazz agreed happily.
"Wufei, are you getting soft on us?" Quatre had to ask, as Jazz headed for the bathroom.
"Of course not. Now that Heero's sanity is in question, and Maxwell's long since bid him farewell, the child needs a strong male role model."
"Admit it, you're going to miss teaching him." Duo teased. "He's grown on you."
"I'll admit nothing. Other than the fact that he is not quite so hopeless as I originally feared. His mother's genes have to count for something."
"Just for that, I'm ordering a bunch of Deran pizzas and having them sent to your transporter." Duo returned. "Heero, he's being mean to me. Are you going to let him get away with that?"
"Yes." A shrug.
"Some maclen you are." Duo huffed. "I hope the couch has adjustable settings too, big guy."
"I'm sure you'd be very comfortable on it. Especially since I'd be right there next to you. It's against the laws of Deran for life-mates to sleep more than a foot apart."
"You liar! Like they'd really make a law up like that."
"It's not a very well-known law. Punishment is at the other maclen's discretion. " Heero smirked. "Push your luck if you dare..."
"Ahem." Wufei cleared his throat. "You have your own apartment upstairs, you know."
"See, he picks on us. He hasn't even noticed Quartre and Trowa went into the transporter a few seconds ago and haven't come out yet."
Wufei walked over to the metal door and banged on it. "Go away. We're teleporting." Came a muffled reply, and then a giggle. "We're transporting ourselves to heaven." Quatre called out. "Quatre!" "What'd I say?" More giggling.
Jazz reentered the room. Duo froze.
"What did you do?" He asked sharply.
Jazz gave him an innocent blink.
"Oh, now I am afraid. What did you do?" Duo repeated.
"You know, they have really cool bubble bath here. It makes lots of bubbles." Jazz said cheerfully. "Especially when you... um... pour it in a self-flushing toilet. It kind of keeps them stirred up. I think I should have only used half a bottle, though."
"I take it back. His mother contributed nothing; you had yourself cloned, Maxwell." Wufei headed toward the bathroom with the others behind him, Trowa and Quatre looking a little rumpled as they stepped out of the transporter.
"Failure to control your child." Heero tsked. "The marks against you are really piling up, koi."
"Well, under Deran law he's your child too." Duo pointed out.
"True, so I won't punish you for this. This time. Besides, there's enough on your tab to get us through one evening, at least."
"Goody."
End Chapter Thirteen
(:./lasha/andihave13)
