Moments of Haven Part 77
X'mas AC198 - Part VI
The birds were driving him nuts. There was absolutely no justification for their mad chirping. It wasn't spring. It was a little sunny, but the air was still nippy. Many of the trees were evergreens, so he supposed they at least had somewhere to roost and socialize. But did they have to do it so loudly?
He felt better after dragging Trowa out to locate the center of their congregation. Wufei had tagged along for the ride, and together with Trowa had somehow managed to convince Quatre that maybe the birds weren't so bad after all. And besides, the birds were really there first.
They returned to the chalet with the clean feeling that came from a good constitutional, and found the two remaining members of their party having a constitutional of their own in the yard behind the building.
"It's end-of-war day," Quatre observed to the others. "And how do they decide to spend it? Beating each other up. Am I the only one that thinks that's ironic?"
From his new-found seat on the floor, Duo glanced their way with a shrug. "Hey, what better way, Q?"
Heero held a hand out to his partner to help him up. "I prefer the term 'sparring'. I'll be running a seminar soon. It'll be embarrassing if my students managed to get the best of me."
Duo snorted. "As if they could." Even on an off day, Yuy probably knew more in his little pinky about taking a man down than any of them would.
"What forms will you be teaching?" Wufei asked with a certain academic interest.
"Nothing formal past the basics," Heero answered. "After that, I imagine it'll be a practical course."
Quatre had heard bits and pieces about this seminar. It sounded far more interesting than anything he had going on in his life at the moment. "Hey, why don't you sign up?"
Wufei turned to him with a raised eyebrow. "Are you implying that I need a refresher course?"
"Dunno. You versus Yuy? Who'd come out on top?"
The answer was obvious to Duo, even if he wasn't entirely serious. "I would, thank you very much."
"Is that so?" Heero met his challenging gaze evenly, though without the shadow of a smirk. He'd never given the matter much thought, and considered it to be really rather irrelevant, especially given their experience with such things, but that didn't mean that he was prepared to just roll over on Duo's say-so.
Quatre blinked back and forth between the two staring each other down. "Life must be so interesting in your household."
"Sort of reminds me of the lions," Trowa murmured.
"Kamal and Tevel are gay?"
Trowa's bland silence was as good as a whap on the back of the head. He spoke only after the impression had been made. "Imply that again and I'll tell them you said it."
That was enough to pull Duo's attention away from his impromptu staring contest. "Hey, since when is being gay a bad thing?"
"It is when you're mated to a fussy, territorial lioness named Suriya."
"Ah." He turned back to Heero. "You got any territorial lionesses I don't know about?"
"No," Heero responded automatically. He'd almost heard that one coming.
"Phew." He winked before turning back to the others again. "Yo, Quatre. Why are you on a first name basis with Trowa's lions?"
Quatre let out a short laugh. "It's one of those little things I learned. Always know everyone's name, from the secretaries to the CEOs. It shows a little respect, and trust me, when you're in a room with two lions, you want to show respect."
Trowa spoke in defense of his leonine friends. "Lions are people, too. Why shouldn't they get the honor of their names?"
Well did Duo know the value of a given name. "Hey, I'm down with that. I was just thinking that--" His hand snaked out suddenly to trap Yuy's wrist. A step and a turn later, he almost had Yuy in a lock when he was countered by another's grip upon his shoulder, a twist, and a foot hooking around his leg. He tugged, ducked, freed himself, then backed away with a quick shuffle to avoid further retribution before finishing his thought. "--that you don't address some corporate bigwig by his first name unless you're golfing buddies or something."
Heero pushed in a comment before any of the others could offer a rebuttal. "You've got to stop cheating, Maxwell."
"Cheating?" He huffed himself up, planting his fists on his hips at the indignity. "There is no cheating in a fight."
"This is practice. I laid out the ground rules before we started." Heero didn't need practice in just taking a man down, after all. He wanted to fix in his mind what was appropriate and what was not for this seminar of his. "You can't just go attacking me whenever you feel like it."
"You said it was going to be a 'practical' seminar. Don't tell me you're going to go teaching all your kiddies that there are 'rules' that are supposed to be followed." Duo's tone made it perfectly clear what he thought about that.
"I will teach them to disregard the rules, but only after they learn to play within the rules." It sounded almost like a repetition of something. "That is just as important."
"What, for all those one-on-one duels they'll be facing in the field?"
He shouldn't joke about those sorts of things, Heero thought. There really had been duels in the field, though he doubted any agents would be meeting any Treizes or Zechs out there these days. "I don't know why I'm really 'practicing' with you, Maxwell. I don't need the sparring practice so much as the teaching practice, anyway."
"Well, you can at least learn patience from me." He stuck his tongue out with a juvenile humor.
"If that's the case, you're certainly the perfect teacher for that."
"Why, thank you. I try." They had both tried, really. If they hadn't learned patience from each other, they would never have gotten as far as they had.
Wufei stepped in to both defuse the situation and express his personal interest. "I would like to see what you have to teach."
Quatre crowed triumphantly. "Ha! So you do need a refresher."
He spared only a sidelong glance at his comrade before turning back to Yuy. "I would like to know what our agents will be learning. If your program proves fruitful, it may be that the teaching will be expanded."
Duo cast Heero a significant look before rolling his eyes dramatically. "Aw geez, you guys are going to talk shop? Come on, Quatre, Trowa. Let's find us some real entertainment."
Quatre laughed as he was shepherded away. "That sort of implies you were entertained before. You enjoy fighting with Heero?"
"Hey, gotta know who's gonna come out on top, don't we?"
Heero expressed a tiny smile as he waited for them to clear out. Once they were gone, he returned his attention to the conversation at hand. "I hope Une doesn't have any plans for me to be teaching those classes myself."
"We spoke about this a couple of days ago, didn't we? You said you were not opposed to teaching these classes regularly."
"I am not opposed to that, no." He paused for a faintly chagrined look. "But I am opposed to her having plans for me."
Wufei acknowledged the small rebellion with a nod of his head. It was hardly unexpected, he supposed. "I do not believe that she has such definite plans regarding this matter. She has shown a remarkable degree of respect and tolerance toward us, I think, all things considered."
"Nevertheless," Heero murmured, trailing off for a moment of contemplation. "It is unlikely that our lives will ever truly be our own."
"The government is not so intrusive, is it?" Being a member of the Preventers force himself, he was not familiar with how the government dealt with the pilots that were farther afield.
"Even were they to be completely gone from our lives... we -- well, I, at least. I... I am not prepared to simply wash my hands of the world. That part of me will always belong to... someone else." Heero shrugged. "Whomever needs it, I guess."
Wufei offered him another nod of respect. The so-called savior of the world had not yet been completely domesticated, it seemed, nor had his wits been completed addled by that strange relationship he had developed with his offbeat partner. It was reassuring to know that some things in this world remained constant. "You have more choices available to you now in how you exercise that part of yourself."
"I have more choices available to me now in how I exercise all those other parts of me as well." He closed his eyes for a few seconds, breathing the fresh mountain air and feeling the sun's light upon his face. "Peace has agreed with me, so far."
"It has." It made Wufei a little envious, really, yet hopeful at the same time. He hesitated only a moment before informing Yuy of what passed through his mind. "If you wish to avoid becoming an active field agent. If you wish to avoid having to put up with some of the hassle that would come from attempting to convince them that they do not want you as an active field agent. You might consider putting off any decisions on the matter until next year."
"Oh?"
"The organization is growing... in a more stately fashion today than it did before. They were more willing to bend the rules before, what rules there were, in order to staff up. Now that they have sufficient personnel to perform the organization's basic tasks, they can afford to be a little more strict about agent qualifications."
"They'll pay for that, down the line."
"Indeed. Une is well aware of the possible consequences of their initial rush to expand. But the risk was unavoidable. We would never have gotten where we are today without it. However, it will be difficult to purge the agency of people who turn out to be underqualified when they were the ones who helped to grow the organization in the first place."
"Those were mostly the most passionate about the peace, weren't they?" He paused minutely to consider his next words carefully. "And those who had the skills, but no longer anywhere to use them?"
The phrasing was generous of Yuy, Wufei thought, and quite sensitive to he who had joined up. "Yes. That is a part of why we have developed these reaccreditation requirements."
"Perhaps 'accreditation' would be more accurate?" Heero asked dryly.
There was no denying that. "It's a good move on Une's part, I think. Training is better late than never."
"Who will really be in my class, Chang?"
He was obviously not asking for a complete roster of names. "Une would never send rookies to you. That would be a waste of your time. They'll have chosen agents they think will gain the most from your tutelage. You needn't worry about that."
"Duo, as well?"
It took a moment to process why they were suddenly talking about Maxwell. But when it did go through, he found it an interesting detail. "Yes, for his seminar as well. The government thinks highly of your skills, of course. Which brings me back to my original point. The longer you wait to enlist, the tighter the rules will be. It may mean you will have to go through basic training if you want to get in, but it will also mean that they will be unlikely to utilize you simply as they see fit."
"Age requirements, you mentioned?"
"Yes, that is being standardized. Same as advancement through the ranks... along with physical requirements."
"Ah. So there may be a high degree of truth to my not being medically cleared for active field duty?"
"It's ridiculous to think, isn't it?" Especially in a man they had cleared for teaching an extremely physical seminar, let alone a man that had survived what Yuy had survived.
Heero shrugged carelessly. "Not really. Loss of consciousness for extended periods of time. A history of seizures, however brief. Good grounds for denial of clearance, I'd say. They shouldn't chance these things. It's good that they don't have to chance these things."
Wufei smiled briefly. "And good that it happens to coincide with your own wishes."
His lips echoed the upwards tilt. "Though I think Duo will have a little something to say about basic training. Hm. I wonder what standards he would meet, and how they might choose to use him. I think he would turn down field assignment."
"Hm."
It sounded carefully neutral to Heero, and perhaps a little pensive as well. "Is there something incorrect about my assessment?"
Wufei blinked, then shook his head. "No, not at all. You're right, I don't see Duo enjoying basic at all. As for the field assignment..." He shrugged. "You know him better than I."
"As long as it's not a desk job," Heero said with some humor. The very prospect of it would have Duo fleeing. "Perhaps we could teach seminars together."
There was another short, deliberate silence as Wufei glanced away uncomfortably. "Perhaps."
He saw the opening, and he took it. "Wufei." He waited until eye contact was reluctantly established. "Is there a problem here? Some problem with our relationship, perhaps?"
The silence stretched for a few more seconds before Wufei shook his head again slowly. "No. I have no difficulties with your relationship. As I said before, it is none of my business what you do with him, so long as it is conducted with respect for others."
"However?" he prompted patiently.
Wufei licked his lips unconsciously before continuing. "However... As I said. Preventers guidelines are tightening."
"Surely they don't mean to discriminate on the basis of sexuality?"
"No, not at all. Such a thing should not come up at all in the workplace." He doubted such a thing had even occurred to Une.
"...However...?"
"However... fraternization between agents can happen. It is not particularly smiled upon when it occurs within the same department. And it is altogether frowned upon between partners. It would be grounds for separation."
"Ah." Pieces started to click together in Heero's mind.
"I believe that the two of you would be able to conduct yourselves with the proper decorum and objectivity while on the job," Wufei assured him firmly. "It would be absurd to separate the two of you for such a reason."
Heero nodded in solemn acceptance of his faith. "Thank you for according us such respect. We will make sure that it doesn't come up in the workplace, should we choose that route. There is no reason it should ever become an issue."
The tightness in Wufei's shoulders relaxed fractionally. "Thank you. I would appreciate that."
TBC...
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