Chibi Heero’s First and Only Chemistry Set
by Melody and Tegan
Part One: The Littler Mishap
What had once been a smoking hole in the ground, created when Relena had accidentally blown up the boys’ tree house, including its tree and the surrounding area, was now a lovely blue and white tiled swimming pool for Quatre’s baby circus effelent, Queenie. On hot summer days Queenie practically lived in it, and when the heat was unbearable the chibis would almost always be found playing with Queenie and letting her splash cool water over them as all of the Maguanac Corps supervised them. Queenie was more fun than even a sprinkler; to that the chibis all agreed.
Though it was scorching hot, Chibi Heero was not joining the younger chibis in their summertime fun. He was in the kitchen with Tegan, Treize and Milliardo, experimenting with his new chemistry set, which had been a surprise gift from Hilde’s Uncle Howard, much to Melody and John’s dismay. Tegan thought it would be fun for him and was sure that it would be perfectly safe if the mini mad scientist were supervised properly.
When the explosion in the kitchen occurred, Heero was delighted, even though the massive baking-soda-and-vinegar volcano made a terrible mess. Heero lived by the motto, “What’s worth doing is worth over-doing.”
“I’ll get the towels!” Milliardo volunteered and ran upstairs to the linen closet.
“I’ll borrow Howard’s shop vac again!” Treize called over his shoulder as he headed for the front door. They routinely asked Howard for this helpful tool because little disasters, such as an overflowing bathtub leaking through the floor into the room below when Heero and Duo thought it would be a cool idea to fill the tub to its very top to make it as deep as possible, happened quite frequently in this house. Howard kept the handy device in the coat closet next to the front door so it would be easily accessible whenever his neighbors needed it.
Tegan was taking down the wet kitchen curtains when Melody came up from the basement carrying a loaded laundry basket. “What happened this time?” she asked as she surveyed the disaster.
“Heero’s volcano was more violent than we thought it would be,” Tegan explained. She slid the soiled fabric off of its curtain rod.
“You shoulda seen it, Melody,” Heero told her, his blue eyes sparkling wildly from the excitement. “It just went WHOOSH! An’ then it sprayed ALL OVER THE PLACE!” He gestured with his hands to give her a visual demonstration, since sadly, Heero thought, she had not been there to see the spectacular event herself. “It was the best one EVER! Too bad you missed it.”
“Look where you’re walking and try not to slip on the floor,”
Treize arrived with Howard’s shop vac and set it down so he could take Melody by the elbow and safely escort her through the room. “Tegan,” he said, “do you think we should ask Rashid to help remove the mixture from the ceiling?”
“Good idea, Treize,” she answered. “Let’s take care of the floor first, though.”
“I suppose I should go the hardware store and get more paper towels,” Melody said with a sigh. “And I should stop at the grocery store, too, to get some more vinegar and baking soda, while I’m at it. Milliardo, can you wet one of those towels so I can wash this stuff off my feet?”
Milliardo complied. “You’ll smell like vinegar when you go to the store,” he told her.
“Yes, I thought of that, but it can’t be helped.”
After putting on her tennis shoes, Melody grabbed her purse and started off to purchase the needed items. “I knew something could go wrong with that chemistry set, even if he was supervised with it,” she thought to herself. “Oh, well, at least no one was hurt and nothing was damaged. The kitchen will smell of vinegar, though, for quite awhile, I’m sure.”
Melody began to think back to Heero’s birthday, just a week ago.
Part Two: The Potentially Dangerous Birthday Gift
Heero slowly tore the wrapping paper off of his presents, as he opened them one by one. There was a new baseball bat, glove and baseball from his webparents, a snap-together airplane kit from Tegan, a beaded lizard from Relena, which she had made herself and expected him to cherish it forever, and various things from the others. The last package he opened was from Howard.
“I know you’ll get a charge out of this one, kiddo,” Howard remarked.
“A chemistry set,” Heero said in his monotone voice, his eyes shining. After receiving this wonderful surprise, he could excuse Howard for calling him ‘kiddo.’ “Thanks, Howard. This’ll be fun.”
John and Melody exchanged dismayed glances over the chibis heads as they stood on either side of Heero. Tegan saw it and gave them a reassuring smile. “It’s only a kid’s chemistry set. He can’t really hurt anything with that. We’ll just make sure he’s supervised when he uses it,” she whispered to her parents, who looked dubiously at her nonetheless.
Tegan sent Heero outside to play while Milliardo and Treize helped her finish cleaning up the messy and smelly kitchen. He had tried to wipe up what he could reach on the lower cupboards and the wall but he was more of a hindrance than a help so after he packed up his test tubes, beakers and various other items Tegan thought it would be best if he left the cleaning to the three of them.
Heero walked out onto the front porch and discovered that a package had been delivered for him. He grabbed it quickly and ran around to the far side of the house where the Maguanacs wouldn't see him open it. “’Chemicals ‘R Us,’” he read, “a division of Mass Destruction Incorporated.” He usually ordered from Weapons R Us, another division of this company, and was so happy with their products and services that he thought he would try their chemicals division. He had placed his order from their online store surreptitiously late one night and had been waiting for it so it couldn’t be intercepted. He hoped that Melody wouldn’t notice the extra added expense on her credit card statement.
Even though Melody had confiscated the mini arsenal and instructive literature which Heero had brought with him when he came to live with them, she was unaware that Heero had memorized the “most inter’sting” recipes from his favorite book, ‘How to Make Easy and Inexpensive Explosives at Home,’ by his most-admired author, who was known only as Dr. J for legal purposes.
Mr. Pierson greeted Melody pleasantly enough when she entered the hardware store. He watched apprehensively to see if any of “those little monsters”—especially Heero or Duo--had accompanied her, and he was relieved to discover that she was shopping alone.
Melody went straight to the aisle in which the industrial strength paper towels were shelved and, after tossing a few rolls into her cart, she stood still, thinking. “Maybe I should look at the shop vacs. Then Howard wouldn’t have to lend us his all the time.” She found where they were located and read the boxes to compare the features of each one before making her decision.
“Another disaster at home?” Mr. Pierson asked when he saw what she was buying. He wondered why he could smell vinegar.
“Unfortunately, yes,” Melody answered sheepishly. “An exploding volcano this time. Heero’s got a chemistry set. It was a birthday gift from our neighbor.” She handed her money to him. "John and I had no idea of what it was before Heero opened it."
“I thought it must be something like that,” the store owner remarked. Nothing much surprised him when it came to the happenings in this frequent customer's family. “I’ll put this in the car for you,” he offered because he knew how heavy the bulky box was.
“No, thanks. I’m walking today. I’ll have one of the Maguanacs come to get it later on. They’re busy watching Quatre’s baby circus elephant in her pool right now.“
'Baby circus elephant? In her pool?' Mr. Pierson thought to himself. 'Well, I shouldn’t be surprised.' Like most of the people living in town, with the exception of the postal carrier who could not avoid delivering mail to their house, he avoided the street where Melody’s family lived like the plague, so he had never seen Queenie. The chibis themselves were enough to steer anyone clear of venturing down that dead end road. Only three of the houses there were occupied, one with Melody’s family, one with Howard and his niece Hilde and one with the new neighbors, the Elrics, who had evidently bought the house without hearing anything about their potential new neighbors first. It was anybody's guess at how long they would last. The 40-member Maguanac Corps were also a deterrent, even though most everyone in town liked them, but their massive mobile suits tended to intimidate the citizens more than just a little. When the Maguanacs were just going about their self-assigned duties, making sure that nothing was out of order in the whole town where their Quatre-sama and his family lived, and basically replacing most of the local police force, they didn’t take their mobile suits with them unless they had a good reason to. Usually they went about in their bus.
“Just put these in my grocery bag. I’d rather not carry two bags if I don’t have to,” Melody requested. She looked at the clock on the wall. “I didn’t realize that I’ve been here so long. I’d better get home to start making dinner.”
As Mr. Pierson added her new purchase to the sack she was carrying he remarked, “Perhaps you should consider buying these by the case.”
“That’s a good idea. They really come in handy.”
“I’m sure they do.”
Just as Melody was leaving she heard a loud explosion and saw smoke rising from the direction of her house. “Oh, no! Now what has he done?”she thought desperately, knowing full well who had caused it. She held her bag tightly in both arms and ran toward home. When she got close enough to see what was happening, she saw the Maguanac Corps spraying a smoking hole in the front yard with the garden hose and generally taking charge of the situation. When Melody was assured that everything was under control, such as it was, she slowed down.
Quatre ran to greet his harried webmommie. “Guess what, Melody? Heero’s made Queenie a ‘nuther swimmin’ pool!”
~Standard disclaimer~ The author does not claim to own Gundam Wing nor any of its characters, including the adorable chibis. >_< Gundam Wing belongs to Sunrise, Sotsu Agency and TV Asahi.
E-MAIL THE AUTHOR! webmommie@gmail.com
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