Ever After
Part 7 - Snippet of an Adolescent Moment
by Akuma
After Colony 212
12th of June
Milliard Marquise was an intelligent and sly young man. He could make
most of people do what he wanted with just a few chosen words. He had
as much charisma as his father in leading people. He was also a
fourteen year old boy with an imp for a sister. His words were nothing
when it came to the five year old girl, who was currently hugging his
right leg. His charisma was zero when he had his sister with him.
"Gillian, let go of my leg!"
"No!" The little girl glomped her brother's leg tighter, "Take me with
you! I want to meet my Solo!"
"I'm not going to Solo's house!"
"You will," Gillian said without any doubt.
"No, I won't."
"Yes," Gillian wailed. "Yes yes yes yes yes!!!"
As his sister cried louder, Milliard wondered who was the more
provocative and slier between them. If his mother heard her wails, she
would scold him and of course order him to take the imp with him.
Eventually, Gillian would win. Milliard sighed in defeat. "Fine fine,
I'll take you to Solo's house."
"Yay!!" Gillian stopped wailing at once. She let go of his brother's
leg and followed him to the car, strutting along the way.
When the Marquise siblings arrived at the Yuy-Maxwell house, they were
greeted by Heero who was tending the flowers at the front gate.
"Big stomach, that's Heero!" Gillian ran out of the car and approached
the Japanese boy happily.
Milliard grimaced at his sister's comment and was thankful that they
were still far enough distance away that Heero couldn't hear her. He
made a note to lecture the imp later. On second thought, he would just
ask his mother to do that. Gillian would obey his words when the sun
rose in the west, which meant it would never happen. Milliard walked
behind Gillian and smiled at Heero. "Hi Heero, Gillian wants to meet
her Solo."
Heero looked down at the girl. "Sorry Gillian, Solo went out for
fencing just now."
"Nooooo." Gillian started to wail.
"Do you want to play with Wing in the garden instead?" Heero offered
then, at Gillian's eager nod he whistled. A puppy appeared from a bush
nearby and ran toward them, barking happily. Gillian squealed in
delight and went to play with the dog.
Milliard watched Heero's eyes soften as the Japanese boy watched the
girl and the puppy ran to the garden in the back.
"She made you bring her here again?" Heero turned to him.
"Uh... yeah..." Milliard nervously looked around.
"Duo is at the office, don't worry."
Milliard turned his head back to the Japanese boy and smiled
sheepishly. "Sorry."
"Don't be," Heero snorted, "It's Duo's fault and mine too. That baka
is too possessive." Heero's eyes softened at the last sentence.
Milliard smiled, "But you love him nevertheless."
Heero just answered him with a slight smile. "So did you come here to
find Solo or just follow Gillian's plea?"
"I'm looking for Solo." The blond haired boy wondered why his heart
suddenly throbbed loudly when he said his friend's name, "I want to
discuss our groups assignment."
"He is at the fencing club," Heero said, "Just go there, I'll look
after Gillian."
"Thank you, I'll do that." Milliard said his goodbye and returned to
the car where the driver was waiting.
He found Solo where Heero had said he was, in the fencing club,
practicing with other fencers. Solo had seen him and signaled him to
wait for ten minutes. Milliard nodded and took a seat. He watched Solo
dodge the opponent's fence agilely, showing technique after technique
fluidly, almost as if he was dancing instead of fighting. As his heart
throbbed with a faster rhythm than usual, Milliard sighed and remembered
the day when his heart started this peculiar behavior.
It was sometime around March, a week after white day. He had grumbled
and regretted his lie on that white day. It had resulted in his impish
sister begging him every day to take her to Solo's house to meet her
beloved Solo. He had refused the imp that morning and got scolded,
when he arrived home from school later, by his mother with Gillian
sniffling in her arms. So it was inevitable that he found himself and
his squealing sister in front of Yuy-Maxwell's household.
The door was opened by Heero, who was wearing straw hat, blue jeans,
and moss green tank top. The straw hat indicated that he was working
at his garden. Heero smiled widely at them, "Hi Mill, Gillian."
Milliard blinked in surprise. First, Heero wasn't a person who smiled
often or widely. Second, he usually called him Milliard, not Mill and
certainly not in a cheerful way like he did at that moment.
"Where's Solo?" Gillian asked straight to the point.
Heero looked perplexed for a moment and then smiled sweetly. "I'm
sorry. Solo is out, Gillian. He didn't say where he was going."
Milliard was surprised when Heero shot a glare at him while Gillian
wailed her disappointment. He realized then that he was looking at
violet eyes instead of blue eyes. The blond haired boy did a double
take then. The hair was chocolate brown but it was longer than Heero's
usual style and most of it was tucked into the hat. Add that to the
violet eyes, the comprehension hit him hard in the face and made his
jaw drop. "Sol..."
"Gillian, there are chocolate biscuits in the kitchen. You can have
them, if you want to. But do be quiet; uncle Duo is still sleeping
upstairs." The violet eyed Heero said to the little girl while his
hand muffled Milliard's mouth, "I have something to discuss with Mill
here. We will be in the garden."
"Okay!" Gillian stopped wailing and ran inside to find the biscuits.
Other than Solo, Heero's chocolate biscuits were Gillian's favorite.
She quickly disappeared and left the two boys alone.
"Sol.." Milliard tried again as the hand released his mouth and
stopped as the violet eyed boy dragged him from the house and into the
garden. He brought the blond boy into far corner and looked around
before bending closer to Milliard and putting his forefinger on his
mouth in silence gesture. "Ssstt! Call me Heero!"
"So you're Solo!" Milliard looked at his friend up and down. Now that
he knew, he could see the differences clearly. Solo's figure was more
filled and his expression was more open than Heero's was. It was
usually easy to tell them apart since they had different hair and eye
color and different clothing styles as well. Solo preferred wearing
cut off knee length jeans and t-shirt while Heero usually wore long
jeans and a tank top. But now as he saw the boy in front of him,
Milliard had to admit that Solo and Heero looked very much alike at
this moment.
"Why the hell are you impersonating Heero?"
Solo snorted and sat down on the low stool, gesturing him to sit down
on the other stool near him. "It's Dad fault."
"How so?" Milliard sat down slowly, still eyeing his friend in
wonderment.
"Mom wanted to go out by himself, but Dad didn't allow him to, so Mom
tried to sneak out this morning. However, he was caught by the guard
Dad placed for this very reason. Mom said he wasn't a fragile doll.
Dad said it was for the baby. They quarreled but then made up." Solo
rolled his eyes up," Dad is still napping from their make up session."
Milliard thought that was way too much information for him and
squirmed.
"Mom wasn't sleeping, though and was very irritated for being caged in
the house. I went home and was asked to do this," Solo gestured to his
clothes, "We dyed our hair. I'm pretending to work in the garden while
Mom is out there, wearing my clothes and doing whatever he wants to
do."
"Won't your Dad recognize you?"
"That's way I'm wearing this hat and sitting here," Solo tapped his hat. "Dad
won't interrupt Mom's gardening so as long as he sees someone like Mom
in the garden, he will think Mom is here."
Milliard shook his head, wondering how Uncle Duo would react if he
knew about this conspiracy. "Don't you worry about Heero?"
"Of course I do." Solo glared at Milliard, "But he glared at me when I
refused...."
Milliard chuckled. Solo looked like a kitten being scolded. His heart
throbbed faster as he watched Solo tug a particular leaf from
nearest plant and nibbled on it playfully. Here in open flower field,
wearing a straw hat, and showered by sunlight, Solo looked beautiful...
"Hey, Mill."
Milliard blinked and looked at Solo who stared at him in awe," What?"
"You look beautiful, you know."
Milliard wondered why his heart throbbed faster.
"Your hair reflects the sunlight, making it look like there's halo
surrounding your head. You look like angel," Solo smiled widely.
"Um, thanks." Milliard squirmed and looked around, feeling strangely
happy. "So what are you doing now?"
Solo gave him an are-you-silly-look. "What do you think I'm doing? I'm
gardening, baka."
"Excuse me?"
"Baka, it's Mom's language. It means stupid."
"I'm not stupid." Milliard glared at his friend.
"True, Dad isn't stupid either, but Mom often calls him that, you know. I
think it's an endearment for them."
Milliard's heart beat faster.
"However, you are a baka. I have to do some gardening to maintain my
cover." Solo sighed, "Mom better bring something for me from his
escapade. His son is suffering here."
"You don't look like you're suffering." Milliard said dryly. "I think
you're having fun with this."
Solo laughed merrily, "Of course! It's not everyday I can trick Dad
like this. I once dreamed of having a twin brother, you know." His
violet eyes softened, "We would swap identities and trick everyone,
especially Dad."
"Well, you have had Heero fulfill your dream without him knowing."
Milliard smiled at Solo's dreamy face. His friend rarely told him
anything like this.
Solo looked at him and smiled, "Yeah, I have."
Milliard's breath hitched and his heart pounded violently at the
breathtaking smile. He couldn't tear his gaze away from Solo. What was
wrong with him?!!
Suddenly the wind blew hard, causing them to break their gaze and
close their eyes. Milliard heard Solo's shout then and opened his eyes
to see the straw hat flying away. For a few precious seconds, Solo's
freed hair danced in the air, framing and reflecting the sunlight.
Then his sight was obscured by his own wildly blown hair.
When the wind was gone, Milliard saw the hat perch happily on the oak
tree's outer branch.
"Damn!" Solo cursed and approached the tree.
"What are you doing?" The blond boy followed his friend while his hand
combed his bangs upward, trying to tidy up his hair as best as he
could.
"I have to get the hat back. If Dad sees me like this, he will know
that I'm not Mom instantly." Solo answered as he climbed the tree.
"I think we better find a long stick." Milliard looked at where the
hat was and shouted at Solo worriedly, "It's quite high and on a
small branch."
"It's okay." Solo shouted back. He was near the hat now, climbing on
the big branch leading to the branch where the hat was. "I think the
branch is strong enough."
Milliard watched worriedly as Solo crawled slowly until the hat within
his reach. The dark haired boy extended his hand while he used the
other one to balance his body and then grabbed the hat, letting out a
triumphant shout, which quickly turned into a squeak as the branch
snapped, not able to hold his weight anymore. Milliard was certain his
heart stopped beating as Solo lost his balance and fell down. He ran and
extended his hands, catching Solo right on time and together they
tumbled down onto the ground.
The blond boy let out a groan as his back impacted with the rough
ground and his front bore Solo's weight. For a moment, the only sound
heard was the flutter of leaves and the blowing of a soft wind. Milliard
looked at the blue sky and white clouds, waiting for his rapidly beating
heart to slow down. The weight he bore told him that he managed to
catch Solo in time and it was his friend within his arms now. The soft
breathing near his ear told him that he was safe and alive.
Solo squirmed and Milliard removed his arms. The brown haired boy
lifted his head and upper body, looking down at him, "Are you okay?"
"No," Milliard croaked, "you scared me to death."
Solo chuckled weakly, "Sorry."
Milliard's hand encountered something other than grass. He grasped it
and lifted it up. It was the hat that almost sent Solo to hospital. He
sighed and put the hat on his friend's head. "Next time, use the
stick, baka."
"I'm not baka," Solo huffed and sat up straighter, fixing his hair
into his hat. "It was just a miscalculation on my part."
"Yeah, right." Milliard snorted then was silent as Solo wriggled on
his stomach. His slow beating heart started throbbing faster again. He
wondered whether he should go to hospital to check his body. There was
definitely something wrong with his heart.
"HEERO!!"
Both boys jumped at the loud shout. Solo's head snapped to the direction
of the house and his face went white. "Crap!"
Milliard followed Solo's gaze and knew he was in trouble as Uncle Duo
stormed toward them with blazing violet eyes.
Solo rolled away and quickly stood up. Milliard tried to stand up as
well and gasped when pain shot through his right ankle, telling him
that he had twisted it. Hearing his gasp, Solo moved closer and
Milliard automatically put his hand on the boy's shoulder to steady
himself.
"Get your hand off of him." The sentence was said in a cold dangerous
tone.
Milliard looked up and felt like turning his tail and running away as
violet eyes gleamed with a death promise directed at him. His father
once said not to anger Uncle Duo and he now fervently agreed with him.
At the moment, Uncle Duo was exactly like his nickname, Shinigami -
God of Death.
A dangerous growl slipped out of the thinned lips and Milliard
realized he still had his hand on Solo's shoulder. Without thinking,
he quickly removed his hand and thus putting his weight on his injured
leg. He gasped in pain loudly.
"Mill!" Solo hurriedly grabbed the blond boy's waist and pulled back
him to lean against him.
"Heero, stay away from him." Uncle Duo growled even louder while his
stance indicated that he was ready to pounce and tear the blond boy apart
limb by limb.
"Dad, be sensible. Mill is hurt!" Solo shouted back.
The violet eyes blinked once, twice, then focused on the boy with
straw hat in confusion. "Solo!?"
"Oh shit!" Mill heard Solo's soft curse and realized that Solo had
slipped and ruined his cover. He looked at Uncle Duo and saw the man
eyeing his son from head to toe. The feral look slowly disappeared,
replaced by comprehension. Milliard released the breath he didn't
realize he had held as the older man took a step back.
"Solo? What the hell are you doing wearing Heero's clothes?"
"Uhm..." Solo squirmed and rubbed his body against Milliard, whose
heart started beating faster again.
Violet eyes narrowed at the boy whose eyes had the same color. "And
where's your Mom?"
"Uh... you see..." Solo swallowed and turned to Mill, whispering "help
me!"
Milliard sighed and looked up. "Uncle Duo?" When he had the man's
attention, he told what his son and husband had done.
Five minutes later, they were shoved into the backseat of the car with
Uncle Duo behind the wheel, driving like a mad man and muttering about
no allowance for his son and what he would like to do once he found his
run away husband.
"Thank you very much for the help." Solo said in sarcasm.
"Do you really think you could get away from your father after your
cover was blown?" Milliard muttered, trying to balance himself as the
car swerved to the right.
Solo sighed, "No."
They were silent for some time as the car took turns here and there.
Milliard tried not to wince when his twisted leg had to bear his
weight.
A hand draped over his shoulders, helping him to steady his balance.
"Thank you, Mill."
Milliard looked at his friend. "What for?"
"For saving me."
"It's nothing. That's what friends are for"
Solo smiled and tightened his hold on Milliard's shoulders. "I still
thank you."
Milliard just smiled back and leaned his weight against his friend,
feeling strangely happy.
"Yo Mill, let's go!"
Milliard was startled from his thoughts. He looked up and saw Solo
standing in front of him in his casual clothes, a smile on his face.
His backpack containing his fencing clothes was slumped on one
shoulder. Those bright violet eyes peered at him. "Are you
daydreaming?"
"Don't be silly." Milliard snorted and stood up. "Come on, we have an
assignment to do or would you prefer to be with your little bride?"
"Don't tell me Gillian is at my house again." Solo said pleadingly.
"Fine, I won't." Milliard smirked.
Solo scowled. "This is because of you. I'll get you for this someday,
Mill."
"You can try." The blond boy grinned and slapped his friend's
shoulder. As they walked towards his car, side by side, Milliard had a
feeling that Uncle Duo would gave him that dangerous Shinigami gleam
again.
"Can we stop for some snacks first?" Solo spoke when they had settled
in the car. "I'm starving after practice."
"Sure."
Solo beamed at him.
Milliard smiled back and hoped that whatever he did to Uncle Duo was
very well worth receiving that deadly glare...
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