Dragons on the Doorstep
~*~ W
“Like name Silver or Giniro, but baby not,” sighed Duo after dinner. “Thinks girl name.” He and Quatre were having tea on the sofa, sharing about their new hobbies. Wufei and Heero were talking collective business at the game table.
“Oh, horrors!” cried Quatre. “The agony of having a gendered name! What about the Greek or Latin? Silver is Argyros in Greek and Argentum in Latin. You could call him Argyr or Argent. Those do sound more masculine.” He gave Wufei a look that clearly said, why is this even a conversation? Wufei returned a minute shrug.
But Duo brightened. “Like Argent or Argyr.” He retrieved his son from halfway up a drapery where he was chasing a moth. “Come on little shit; like Argent or Argyr? Quatre says masculine boy names.” He set the little dragon on the table and sketched out both names. “Pick one.” The baby huffed, sounding very much like his father, but pedaled across to the written names. He stared at first one then the other, huffed again and put his paw on Argent. He looked up at his parent and nodded. Duo sighed. “Likes Argent! Finally! Will call Argent.” He gathered up the baby and carried him to Heero. “Son has chosen name. Will be Argent.”
“Finally!” laughed Heero. He lifted his little dragon to look him in the eye. “Good choice. Argent is a strong name for a dragon.” Argent flicked his tongue at Heero. “Little shit,” Heero said affectionately.
Leaving his son with his father, Duo returned to the sofa. “That relief! Was beginning to think baby stubborn or willful. Little shit doesn’t like vegetables, but likes soup, so feed soup to get vegetables. Does like brussels sprouts, go figure.”
“Well, they are little cabbages,” said Quatre with a smile.
“Mini soup!”
“Yes!” he laughed. Duo’s mind made the most delightful leaps sometimes.
They went back to comparing hobbies. Quatre showed off his whatsis dish and Duo oohed and aahed over it. It wasn’t perfect, not by a long shot, but Quatre was proud of having done it and having had the courage to try.
“Is so pretty!” Duo exclaimed. “Like color… Looks like pearl.”
“There are so many colors to choose from. I ended up closing my eyes and just stabbing the color chart,” Quatre laughed, setting the dish aside.
“Is same with yarn,” agreed the Kewpie. “So many pretty colors! So many choices!” He brought out his latest project, a sweater for Heero. It echoed Heero’s dragon colors, electric blue, electric green and gold.
“Does Heero like the colors? One of my sisters knits, and she says anyone who disrespects a knitted gift from her never gets another hand made thing as long as they live.”
“Asked Heero before yarn, to make sure. Said was perfect,” he smiled.
“He’s a good Chosen, then.”
“Think will keep,” Duo smirked. “Wait until Argent two or three, have new baby.”
“That sounds like an appropriate age gap. Now that Wufei and I are officially Chosen and married, I expect to hear the ‘heir’ talk.”
“What is ‘heir’?”
“Because I’m king, I’m expected to produce or designate an heir to be king after me. Not looking forward to it, really. I have several nephews who could be named heir, but… I don’t really like any of them that much.”
“Cannot birth heir?”
“No. Humans aren’t like Kewpies; we only have one set of reproductive organs. I’d have to find a woman who agreed to carry a child for me, and I don’t want to do that. I value Wufei too much to do something like that. It would feel too much like a betrayal to me. Maybe I’ll pick a child from the kingdom and adopt them. My ancestors have done that on occasion.”
“Hmm… Humans complicated.”
“Sometimes, very much so! Huh. You know, the more I think about it, the better I like the idea of adopting a child. Then there would be no fussing among the sisters. No jealousy.” He sat with that idea for a few minutes. “Hm. Maybe we’d adopt several children. Wouldn’t want the first to grow up spoiled,” he laughed. “But not for a few years yet! I want to spend time with my consort first. Maybe after five or ten years.”
“Make dishes first,” laughed Duo.
“That would be fun!”
“Will make blanket for heir when choose.”
“Aw, that's so kind of you!”
“Quatre and Wufei good friends.”
“And you are our good friend.”
~*~
“Wufei, how do you feel about children?” They were lazing in bed that night.
“Hm… They’re good with soy sauce?”
Quatre gave him a playful shove. “I mean us having children! I expect to get the talk about designating an heir any day now.”
“Oh. I suppose it's a good idea, but how would we manage it, since neither of us is a Kewpie.”
“We could adopt. I don't have any particular love for my nephews, so I really don't want to entrust the kingdom to any of them. I was thinking of an orphan. Or two or three, if we discover we actually like kids.”
“That could work. Are you thinking of a particular child or just in general?”
“Just in general. It's too early to be doing it now. I'd rather spend my time with you.”
“That I can agree on.”