Young Hearts - Part 26 by Keara
Standard disclaimers apply
“I’m glad to see that you’re feeling
better, Duo.” Quatre beamed at his friend as they started sitting
for dinner. He had been slightly concerned when Heero had told him
that Duo had caught a chill. “I really am sorry that I didn’t
leave a note to warn you about the pool.”
Duo shrugged and grinned. “Hey . . . it’s the quickest
way for my kid to learn. Remember that lesson, Chibi-Duo . . . no
more playing near large bodies of water.” He said, shaking his
finger at the little boy as he winked.
Chibi-Duo looked solemn for a moment. “Yes, Daddy. It won’t
happen again.” Then he giggled, obviously not able to hold onto
the serious mood for too long.
Quatre looked around and checked to make sure that all the kids were
seated and ready to eat. He smiled when he saw that everyone was present,
then turned his attention to Heero as the Japanese youth walked in
with several serving dishes. “Heero . . . what did you make?”
Heero shrugged as he started setting the serving plates down. “Nothing
fancy. I just used what was left from the Maguanac’s stay here.
A salad with the leftover vegetables, some chicken pieces that I breaded
with the few slices of bread remaining, and spinach.”
Chibi-Duo frowned as the food was being passed around, the adults
serving the children for the most part. “Daddy?” The little
boy asked.
Quatre stopped spooning food onto his plate at the tone in the boy’s
voice.
Duo looked over. “Hm? What is it?”
Chibi-Duo bit his bottom lip. “Ain’t we gonna say grace?”
Wufei frowned. “Some of us do not share your faith.”
Quatre smiled a little at the boy. A part of him was pleased to see
that the child was doing something that the elder Duo had never done.
“You may say it if you wish. Whether we believe in God or Allah
. . . or even the Shinigami, there is always a Divine One.”
Chibi-Duo nodded solemnly and cleared his throat, putting his hands
together as he closed his eyes and bowed his head a little. “Thanks
for letting us live long enough to eat again.”
Quatre blinked at the child and shot a look to Duo, who had a sad
smile on his face. He understood the meaning behind the words though,
and decided not to speak of it. “That was very . . . uhhh .
. . nice, Chibi-Duo. If there is nothing else, let’s all have
dinner.”
*****
Raberba scowled at the dark-green blob sitting on his plate.
Nearby, Chibi-Duo was poking at a similar blob on his own plate.
“Yech! Didja hafta pick a veggie that’s so slimy?”
The long-haired boy asked.
Odin frowned and pushed his spinach around with a fork. “It
isn’t slimy. It’s just a bit overcooked.”
From where he was sitting, Quatre sighed. “No . . . Heero used
the canned spinach leftover in the cabinet.” He smiled apologetically
over at the children. “It comes that way, sorry.”
Raberba wrinkled his nose in distaste. “Do we gotta eat it?”
Wufei shook his head. “Eat it, or no ice cream for any of you.”
He growled.
Raberba gasped along with the other kids . . . except Chibi-Duo for
some reason. ‘No ice cream? It was a barbaric idea.’ With
that, he started eating the blob, only to stop after one bite when
Chibi-Duo asked a startling question.
“What’s ice cream?” The boy asked.
Raberba blinked at him. How could anyone not know what ice cream
was?
“Ice cream is a sweet frozen food prepared from milk products
and flavorings . . . typically served as a dessert.” Odin spoke
up, obediently eating his spinach.
Raberba shook his head and continued to eat his blob. It was disgusting.
And he had to stop again after only one more bite. It was too yucky.
“EWWWWWW!” He exclaimed, dropping his fork to the plate.
Quatre was grimacing, but he schooled his features. “Mind your
manners, Raberba. Heero went through all this trouble to cook for
fifteen people. It is only polite to eat what you’re given .
. . regardless of the vegetable selection.”
Raberba watched as Quatre ate the disgusting green mass for a moment,
only growing angrier with each passing moment. ‘He’s not
my father! He can’t tell me what to do!’ He scowled as
Quatre took another bite and then moved to the chicken. ‘He
didn’t even eat all of it. He took two tiny bites! Why does
he get to ignore it and I hafta eat it?’ Raberba looked down
at his own plate, a smirk coming to his face. ‘If HE doesn’t
eat it, then I won’t!’ Although he knew that he’d
be punished for this, Raberba filled his fork with the spinach. He
smiled innocently at Quatre a second before he flung it at the older
blonde.
What he didn’t expect was that the uneven formation of the
canned vegetable would cause it to veer off course. It hit Tian Bao
instead.
*****
Wufei froze, his fork held in midair, when he saw what the tiny blonde
had done. He glanced at Quatre, who nodded. Wufei was about to stand
and take Raberba up to the room the boy shared with Triton, when Treize
started laughing while pointing at the spinach dripping down Tian
Bao’s cheek. ‘This does not look good.’ Wufei thought,
taking a breath. ‘I had quite a temper at that age.’
True to Wufei’s foreboding, Tian Bao scowled at Treize and
flung a fork-full of his own spinach at the russet-haired child.
The next thing that Wufei knew, there was food flying everywhere.
Triton was under the table, having immediately dived for cover as
soon as things had gotten so messy, although he had thrown one handful
of salad, probably just as a reactionary measure. Lena, Midii, and
Milliardo were giggling madly while throwing food. Chibi-Duo had thrown
a couple of limp spinach leaves, then had joined Triton under the
table. A quick look under there had told Wufei that the child was
now eating as quickly as he could.
Odin had lettuce on his head, but he also had a small smile on his
face as he threw spinach at Milliardo, and Treize continued to throw
food at Tian Bao. The older diners seemed to be at a loss of what
to do since there was a great deal of noise coming from the squealing
children. After a moment, Wufei stood up, deciding that he had had
enough of this foolishness.
“ENOUGH!!” He yelled, slamming his hands down on the
table and causing a number of glasses to tip over and spill. “Stop
that, all of you!” He took a deep breath to calm himself. “Triton,
Chibi-Duo . . . please get back in your seats.” He almost smiled
when he noticed that Chibi-Duo had cleaned his plate. ‘The boy
probably just wanted to join in briefly.’ He also noticed that
Triton looked worried . . . no, the boy looked downright petrified.
After a moment of silence, Wufei spoke. “I must say that I
am fairly disappointed . . . in ALL of you. I believe that I speak
for everyone?” He paused as the others nodded in agreement with
him. Heero couldn’t hide the small smile on his face from Wufei
though. “Whilst I agree that the canned spinach is . . . well
there are no words to describe it. That however, doesn’t excuse
the fact that you wasted it. You have also made a mess of the dining
room. Tian Bao . . . I will speak with you later on how to control
your temper. Had you not reacted, only Raberba would have been punished
tonight for his poor manners. Now . . . all of you are to finish what’s
left of your dinners, clean up the mess you made in this room, wash
yourselves, and go to bed . . . without dessert.”
The children grumbled and pouted, several of them bowing their heads.
They all looked positively miserable, but Wufei would not back down
from this. They had to learn their manners. Throwing food was simply
not acceptable.
Triton immediately began eating his dinner again, his hands shaking
as he did so. Wufei hoped that he had not damaged the child’s
already battered psyche. Trowa quietly set his hand on the boy’s
back, rubbing his shoulders lightly. It seemed to calm the child though
. . . Triton’s hands slowly became more steady.
Chibi-Duo, since he had already finished his meal, began cleaning
the area around his seat. The other children resumed their eating,
although Raberba defiantly avoided the spinach on his plate. When
they were all finished, they cleaned the mess. Relena and the older
youths watched their progress, keeping an eye on them at all times.
Wufei, deciding that it was time to start getting them ready for
bed, turned to look at his friends. “Okay, I think it is time
for the children to ready themselves for bed . . . one at a time would
be best I think. I don’t want any of them getting in further
trouble.” He nodded his head in Trowa’s direction. “Trowa,
why don’t you take Triton upstairs and get him ready for bed?”
Triton looked over at the sound of his name, his eyes wide and full
of fear. Perhaps he expected a further punishment . . . Wufei felt
sorry for distressing the boy.
“Of course.” Trowa responded. “Come on, Triton.”
The tall youth said, extending his hand to the young boy.
Triton quickly walked over to Trowa and took hold of his hand, obediently
following the older youth out of the dining room. Wufei watched them
leave, then returned his attention to the other children. One by one,
as the minutes ticked by, Wufei dismissed each of the boys and girls,
until eventually only Raberba was left cleaning. He had been the one
that started it all, so it was only right that he be the last allowed
to leave.
By then, only Wufei remained in the dining room, watching Raberba.
Relena had gone to tend to Lena and Midii and Quatre had volunteered
to watch Tian Bao. At the moment, Raberba was scowling and grudgingly
doing what he had been told. Only when the room was clean did Wufei
allow him to go to bed. It was still relatively early in the evening
. . . but this was a punishment after all.
Raberba ducked his head and rushed by Wufei, muttering something
under his breath. Wufei decided to ignore it this time. However, he
felt a need to discuss the boy’s attitude with Quatre. Shaking
his head, Wufei turned off the light in the dining room and headed
upstairs to check and see if everything was going well with the other
children.
*******
TBC
*******
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