AC 197
Maxwell Residence
Immediately after Heero had left Duo’s house, Hilde had stuffed her flustered husband into their SUV and started towards the nearest outlet store that had a large baby section. The two started bickering loudly, people passing them by would look over at the dark car curiously, wondering what was going on.
“I can’t believe ya threatened him!” Duo exclaimed as he reached to the radio, “And ya made me leave in the middle of the football game! What kind of wife are ya!?” He exclaimed loudly. He was growing increasingly annoyed as the AM channel that was supposed to be broadcasting the game refused to pick up, only static continued to run through the speakers.
“The kind that will kick you out of the bedroom and make you sleep on the couch for the rest of our marriage if you don’t stop complaining.” Hilde snapped back, her cornflower blue eyes flashing dangerously. She turned her blinker on and merged over into the lane closest to the sidewalk, before she turned into the outlet store.
“B-But you - you - you!” He looked ahead at the stores in front of him, his whole core shivered as his eyes read the huge sign above the doors, ‘Babies-R-Us’.
“Yes, me.” She grumbled and pulled her car into the nearest stall, “Now get out of my car and help me find some things for Heero’s kid!”
Hours of searching and buying had left a very large dent in Duo’s wallet. The two had driven from outlet mall to outlet mall in search of items Duo hadn’t known existed for babies. The young couple had received many strange looks as they wandered up and down the aisles, now whether it was because people recognized them as the Maxwells, or they thought the couple just looked too young to be in the store, Duo didn’t know, and nor did he care, he just wanted out.
As the two left the last store, the teenage kid in back of them pushing the cart carrying the baby crib, Duo stared at his empty wallet and looked over at his wife. Hilde, he noticed immediately, had a satisfying smirk on her lips, he didn’t like the looks of it, that look always meant trouble for him. In an attempt to distract his wife from anymore strange thoughts he held the empty piece of cloth that was his wallet, over to her, “Sweetie… I’m broke…” He put as much pout into his voice as he could muster, hoping to make her feel bad for his losses.
“Heero and his son appreciate it.” Hilde smiled and placed a soft kiss on his cheek before she got into her car, “Now hurry up, you two need to set this stuff up and I still need to get dinner ready!”
Grumbling, Duo closed his wallet, and the back hatch of the car. He walked like a man condemned to the passengers side of the car and slowly got in, “I really don’t like you at the moment.” His face was in a complete pout, his body slouching in the chair, arms crossed defiantly in front of his chest.
Hilde smirked as her husband started sulking in his seat, it reminded her of a little five year old being told ‘No’, in a candy store. Turning her eyes back to the road she pulled out into traffic once more, “You know what I think?” She started.
“How much ya don’t want kids because they’re too damn expensive?” Duo offered, his violet eyes still glaring out the window.
“No…I was thinking that we’ll have pizza tonight, it’s easy.”
Blinking, Duo turned and looked over at Hilde, who still had that same smirk on her lips, it reminded him of an old painting he had seen when the two had visited Paris for their honeymoon, ‘The Mono Lisa? No…Mona Lisa? Wait—did she say pizza?’ As the worlds settled into his mind, Duo smiled back at his wife, and sat up, “I love you right now.”
Heero was sitting cross legged on the floor, next to the couch. His arms were pillowed on the cushion, his chin resting on his muscled forearms. His eyes were transfixed on the little white bundle in front of him, the small baby inside asleep. The child had been asleep when he picked him up, and slept the entire drive back to Duo’s place.
He wanted Duo and Hilde to come back. He really did. The whole situation was awkward to him, he wasn’t trained to raise kids, he was barely able to survive off his own emotions let alone interpret a child’s. Sighing, he slowly reached out with one hand and gently set it on the boys covered stomach. He could feel the boy breathing, tilting his head slightly, his Prussian blue orbs took in the small child.
The boy’s face was relaxed as he slept, completely burrowed in his blanket. The child shifted slightly, Heero could feel him tensing up as he moved, and the boy let out a soft almost squeak-like noise before he settled down. Slowly trailing his hand up the tiny body, Heero brushed his thumb over his son’s smooth cheek.
His son…
A small smile graced Heero’s lips, it sounded nice. He had been petrified at first at the thought of having a child, but as he sat there, just observing him, he came closer to excepting the fact. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad, after all he had Duo and Hilde to help him.
He had no sooner thought about the married couple, when he heard the car pull into the drive way. Looking up, he drew his hand away from the boy. He could hear Duo and Hilde talking as they walked to the front door. Hilde was the first to enter.
“Where is he? I wanna see him!” The girl dropped her purse on Heero’s reclining chair and moved over to the sofa, standing over next to Heero, she looked over his shoulder, “Ah, Heero, he’s adorable!” She smiled brightly, “Can I hold him?”
Heero nodded, watching how Hilde picked the boy up and cradled him in her arms. She moved around the room, baby talking to the unconscious bundle the entire time. Feeling another presence behind him, Heero turned his head and looked up to Duo. He almost laughed at Duo’s expression, it was somewhere between horror and wanting to throw up.
“I am not having kids.”
Heero smirked, and let out a small chuckle. He couldn’t help it really.
“It’s not funny man!” Duo exclaimed, as he collapsed into his couch, “Do ya know how much shit we just bought?”
Heero shook his head. Honestly, he had no idea how much stuff the two would buy, “Sounds like enough if you’re saying that.”
“More than enough!” Leaning back into the couch, the American grabbed on to the bottom of his braid, his fingers absently toying with it.
“Stop whining, Duo.” Hilde called out from the kitchen, “Heero, why don’t you go help him bring everything in. The guest room down the hall is empty, why don’t you set it up in there.”
“What do I look like, your pack mule!?” Duo exclaimed. He was getting hungry, and being told to haul things around on an empty stomach didn’t sound like fun to him.
“If you want food tonight you’ll do it.” Hilde said in a sing-song voice.
Pushing himself up off the couch, the American continued to grumble, “…Slave driver.”
Heero smiled to himself. He liked listening to the two bicker, made him feel sane. Getting up after the 02 pilot, he started towards the door after him. “If it makes you feel better I’m going to pa-”
“Heero, you’re not going to pay him back!” Hilde’s voice called out.
Both pilots froze and looked at the wall blocking them from her, how had she known?
“But it’s the least that I could do-”
“Forget it, just having you and your son here is enough. Besides, we both owe you for saving our lives in the war.” She poked her head around the wall and smiled, “And our marriage, I think it’s the least we could do.”
Sighing, Heero slowly slipped his shoes on once more.
…2-0 Hilde…
Almost an hour later the two had everything in the now full spare bedroom. Heero looked over at Duo in sympathy, “I will pay you back for all of this.”
“Don’t bother, man. Hil’s right, it’s the least we can do. I’m just hungry.” The American pushed off the wall and started towards the hallway. He could hear slight giggles coming from the kitchen and poked his head around the corner, Heero next to him. The two watched as Hilde gently tickled the boy’s sides, making him laugh, and squirm. His tiny arms and legs flailed around as Hilde continued playing with him.
Duo felt something inside him melt at the sight. Hilde looked so content playing with the baby. He noticed that her eyes sparkled a bit more than usual, and her smile was content. Tilting his head so it was resting against he wall, he crossed his arms and just watched. Heero allowed a smirk to escape as well. The boy was animated for being so young, and his bright, yet toothless smile almost seemed to warm him. Had he really thought of trying to get rid of the child?
Hilde had noticed the two enter the kitchen while she had been playing with the boy. She knew that they both had changed their minds about the arrangements, standing back up, she kept her one hand on the boys stomach and looked over at Heero, “Come play with him. He’s ticklish.” She smiled and moved aside so Heero could come over.
Shaking his head the Japanese man just sat down at the table, “You can keep playing with him.” Duo slid in next to him and watched as Hilde picked the boy up and walked over to the two.
“For Gundam pilots you two are sure skittish around children.” She laughed and moved the baby to Heero’s lap, “You’re going to have to get used to him sooner or later.” She walked over to the oven and pulled out the heated up pizza, “By the way, have you thought up a name for him?” She asked curiously.
Blinking, Heero looked down at the boy cradled in his arms, matching Prussian eyes were gazed up at Heero. The baby was still smiling brightly, his arms lightly moving about, before latching on to Heero’s sweatshirt, “No, not yet.”
“It’ll come to you.” She smiled and set the now cut pizza on the large hot pad on the table, “Eat up! We still have to get some things set up tonight!”
By 10 o’clock the crib had been set up, the sheets washed and dried and the tiny bed made. The baby boy had been changed, and placed into clean clothes, a soft baby green onesie, with little frogs on the feet, a matching fleece blanket covering his small body.
The other three had all but collapsed in the living room. The day had been busy right at the end, and they still had a lot of work that needed to be done the following day. Respectively, the three had fallen in their usual places. Heero in the reclining chair, Duo and Hilde on the couch.
Heero had been unsure of the noise that awoke him. Slowly blinking open, the 01 pilot gazed lazily ahead, trying to pinpoint the sound. Shifting in the chair, he tried to settle back down, he wished that the baby crying would sto—
“K’so…” Pushing his tired body out of the chair, the 01 pilot started moving down the hall to find the boy. The door was already open. Raising an eyebrow, he stepped inside and saw Hilde holding the baby, gently cooing and rocking him. Heero noticed that the crying almost seemed muffled, like the boy’s lungs weren’t strong enough to support how loud he really wanted to be.
Turning, Hilde spotted Heero, “I thought you’d be in here sooner.” She smiled mischievously to him. The baby boy caught sight of Heero and instantly calmed. He kept his gaze on the teen he knew was his father. Hilde smiled and walked over to Heero, and gently handed the baby over. “He’s already attached to you. It’s like he knows you’re his father.”
Heero nodded slowly, most of his attention on holding the baby.
“It’s going to be different having him in the house.” She sighed and sat down on one of the boxes, a small laugh escaped her, “Now I get to babysit Duo and your son.”
Heero smiled and moved to the crib to put the now sleeping boy back to bed, “He’s tiny…”
“He’ll get bigger, you were that small once, and now look at you.” Hilde smiled and looked through the wooden bars to the boy, “He’ll be fine. I wouldn’t worry so much about him. He has lots of people who already care about him.”
“I don’t know anything about raising kids, Hilde.” Heero tried, he rested his forearms on the crib, watching the boys snuggle around to get comfortable.
“No one does, people learn as they go.”
“…What if I screw up?”
Smiling, Hilde stood up and moved next to Heero, she rested her hand against his shoulder, and gave it a gentle squeeze, “You can’t be perfect when it comes to raising kids. Sometimes you have to be the bad guy and tell them ‘no’, or keep them in for a night when they really want to go out.” Reaching down, she slipped the small beanie that had fallen off back on to his head, “He’ll be a good kid, after all you’re his dad.”
“That’s what I’m worried about.” Heero said all too bluntly.
Hilde laughed, “I wouldn’t. Duo on the other hand yes, he says he doesn’t want kids, but he will. Believe me, that kid’ll come out with a devious smirk and mischievous puppy eyes… That I don’t look forward too.”
Blinking Heero looked to her, “Then why do it? Sounds like it would be too much trouble.”
Hilde gave the Japanese pilot the most sincere smile he had ever seen, her eyes holding all the warmth in the world, “Children are life’s greatest adventures, Heero. We learn just as much from them than they do from us. They are our lights in this sometimes dark world.”
Slowly, the words sank into his mind. Children were an adventure, and lights in a dark world. Sighing, he looked down at the boy, the boy who was already changing their lives and alternating the way they thought and gaged life.
“…Hikaru.”
“What?” Hilde blinked, she wasn’t sure if she actually heard him.
“His name, Hikaru.” Heero answered.
“Yuy Hikaru.” Hilde pursed her lips as if thinking, before smiling, “I like it!”
“…Hilde, do you mind if I ask you —”
“You can always ask me something.” She interrupted. She had been fighting Heero with that for almost a year now. He needed to learn she was safe ground, he could talk to her no matter what.
“…What was your father’s name?”
“My father? Everyone called him Skip, but his real name was Anthony, why?”
“Japanese typically don’t have middle names, but I want to give him one.” He answered, a slight hue to his cheeks.
Hilde wrapped her lithe arms around Heero’s shoulder and rested her chin on his shoulder, “I would be honored if you gave him my father’s name.” She whispered.
Smiling gently, Heero looked down at his baby boy. His light in the dark world.
“Hikaru Anthony Yuy…”