17-Oct-1999
Heero & Duo talk about having kids
"Duo?" Heero said, his head on the pillow, tickling Duo's face with the end of the braid.
"What?" Duo said, facing him and trying to snatch his hair away from Heero. My hair's not a plaything, well, not all the time.
"What do you think about children?"
"Children?" The blood was finally returning to his brain from that last session.
"Un."
"In general or us having them?"
"Us having them."
"I didn't know you wanted children. As for me, well... "
"You don't think I'd be a good parent?" Heero dropped the thick rope of hair.
Duo propped his head up, elbow on the pillow. "I think you'd love the little bugger to death. Though I think you'd probably blame yourself for every little boo-boo and tantrum."
"Then what?"
"I'm afraid of all the things that could go wrong. I think you'd beat yourself up too much. Raising kids means making tons and tons of mistakes and hoping that the few things you do right will make up for it. I don't want you to get mad at yourself if he or she isn't what you hoped for."
"Baka. As long as he or she's got a part of you inside, I'll be happy."
"Hey, that's sweet, Heero. It's tough, though. I used to help Sister Helen take care of the younger kids. For every walk in the park and adoring glance, there's a diaper change, a tantrum and crying fit because of teething or an earache. Good God, I remember nearly getting my head shaved because one kid had lice and it just began to spread through the orphanage. And that's the easy part."
"Oh?"
"Well, there's the No-No stage, then they're sweet for a while. Then they become a bunch of teenagers, all hormones & confusion. It's a lifetime commitment, Heero."
"I've gotten used to making lifetime commitments."
Duo smiled at that remark. "Why, all of a sudden?"
"I'm not sure you'll understand."
"Try me, you know you can talk to me about anything."
"Right now, all we're known for is what we did during the war."
"Yeah."
"Well, if we were to have a kid, that would be proof."
"Proof?"
Heero shut his eyes and tried to think of a way to say what he really wanted to say. "A proof of our love, a piece of us that'll live on beyond the pages of some dusty textbook, something that's apart from the war. I don't know if that makes any sense."
"Hey, it makes a whole lot of sense, Heero."
"I sense you have doubts."
"It's just that we're both orphans, Heero. You know how tough it was to be alone. If something were to happen to the both of us... "
"Nothing's going to happen."
"How do you know that?"
"Because I'm going to protect you. What do you say?"
Duo was quiet then said, "Are you going to do the fair share of the diapers?"
Heero glared at him, then nodded.
The End
On to 'The Family Series'
(:./mk/proof)
