Chapter Text
Shortly after turning 19, Usagi Tsukino married the love of her life. She had everything she could dream of and more; a handsome, caring and successful husband, a lovely, two-story white house just outside of Boston. But most importantly, she had two beautiful babies: Dorian and her little girl, Usagi. Truly, she had the perfect life; everything was exactly like she dreamed it would be, and she could only hope things would continue to get better.
Until, of course, she found out Mamoru was sleeping with Beryl, his secretary. Her fairytale marriage ended and feeling humiliated and defeated, she decided to pack her bags, take her eight year old boy and her 18-month baby girl and headed back to her hometown, to the loving arms of her beloved sister, Minako, the only family she had left.
Gateway City, located in eastern Southern California and just a few miles away from the Orange Air Force Base. Growing up, Usagi and Minako, along with most of the girls at their school, knew they would eventually end up being Military Wives. Only Usagi ended up marrying the first and only guy she ever dated: Mamoru Chiba. The Chiba family was one of the richest, most influential families in Gateway City, so of course it was expected of their only son to get married and start a family so the Chiba family line would continue. It took Usagi almost 8 years to realize he never loved her, and he only used her to his advantage.
“You guys are finally here!” Minako shouted from the porch of her house, beneath the glittery, hand-painted paper banner welcoming her long absent family.
During his parents’ divorce, Dorian called, wrote and video chat with his aunt Minako all the time. It helped her ease the lonesomeness she felt in that big home, and it helped him cope with the idea of not having his dad around anymore. He even consulted with Aunt Mina about that one time he saw his dad with the redhead girl from his office, and when he realized his dad wasn’t really a nice guy and would always make mom cry. When his mom told him about moving to California, immediately after the divorce, little Dorian insisted on changing his last name to his mom’s.
Usagi took her baby out of the car seat and joined her sister and son on the porch. “You didn’t have to make such a big deal about this,” she smiled, carefully adjusting little Usagi on her hip.
“You know, it wasn’t all me,” her sister shrugged her shoulders “Ikuko helped. She even insisted on making a special dinner just for you two.”
“I will have to thank her then,” Usagi said as they entered the house. It seemed like nothing hadn’t changed much in the eight years she was gone. Except for the color of the walls, everything seemed exactly like she remembered it. The explosive floral pattern on the furniture, the one her mother picked years ago when they were having a big Christmas party. The beautiful wall size portrait painting of her parents still hung by the stairs.
Minako and Ikuko, her housekeeper, had made a few changes to the upper floor bedrooms. Especially to the two rooms Usagi and her babies were going to stay in. Dorian was going to stay at Usagi’s old bedroom, and Usagi and the baby would stay at the guest room –since they needed a lot more room for the both of them.
“You need help unpacking your things, Dorian?” Minako asked, opening the door to his new bedroom.
“It’s pink,” he said, a disgusted look on his face at the sight in front of him.
His mom couldn’t help but laugh softly “I promise we can paint it blue if you want,” she smiled, adjusting her baby to her hip once again “does that sound okay?”
“I guess,” Dorian sighed as he made his way to the bed, so he could start unpacking and setting up his room.
“You can stay over here,” Minako said, pointing to another bedroom. She helped her sister set up the room, as they discussed what was next in Usagi’s new life.
“You remember Miss Kino?” Usagi asked. She sat on the bed and started bouncing her baby softly on her knee.
“Of course, she was mom’s best friend,” Minako said with a halfhearted smile. “But she’s Mrs. Furuhata now.”
“You’re right,” Usagi smiled “I’m glad she finally married him, they were such a cute couple.”
“They still are,” her sister said, sitting on the bed next to her “so what about her?”
“There was an opening at her bakery,” Usagi smiled. “I got the job.”
“Wait, you’re serious?” Minako furrowed her brows. “No offence, sis, but you can’t bake.”
“That’s why I’m going to be in charge of the counter. You know, boxing up the cakes, selling them and taking phone orders,” she shrugged her shoulders. “It shouldn’t be that hard.”
“You’re right. That’s excellent, I’m happy for you,” Minako said. “But what about Dorian?”
“I got the morning shift, 8:00am to 3:00 pm. I’ll be off in time when Dorian gets home from school. She knows about my situation,” she sighed.
“That’s great, Usa,” Mina said. “Everything is going to work out for you here, just wait.”
“I hope you’re right,” Usagi sighed. “At least we don’t have to worry about Mamoru now. And I highly doubt he’ll bother visiting his children,” she added.
“How is Dorian going to take it?”
“Well, he called to let him know we got here safely,” Usagi said. “It sent him straight to voice mail.”
“Why am I now surprised?” Minako grunted. “I swear, one of these days I’m gonna kill him!”
“Are you okay, sweetheart?” Usagi asked as she was putting him to bed.
Dorian looked up at his mom, tears in his eyes. “I’m going to miss my friends.”
“I know, sweetheart,” she said, carefully sitting on the bed. “But you’ll make new friends, and everything will be alright. I promise.”
“It’s not the same.”
Usagi sighed dejectedly. “Changes can be hard, I know, but life can’t always be easy. Sometimes we have to go through hard times to appreciate all the blessing we have.”
Dorian nodded weakly, looking down to avoid his mother’s gaze. “Will daddy stop loving me?”
“Of course not,” Usagi said. “Don’t ever think that, sweetheart. Your father will always love you. He’s just busy with all the work he has to do, but he’ll visit,” she half lied.
Her son didn’t say anything anymore, and Usagi gave him a quick kiss on his cheek. “Get some sleep, sweetheart,” she said softly. “We’ll go to your new school tomorrow and check that everything is ready for you before the beginning of classes next week.”
“But what if the other kids don’t like me?” Dorian asked nervously.
“Why would you say that?” Usagi shook her head. “They’ll see how cool you are, and you’ll make tons of friends.”
“No, I won’t.”
“You will, don’t worry about it,” she got up from the bed. “Now, try to get some sleep.”
“Goodnight, mom.”
“Goodnight, sweetheart,” Usagi said, turning off the light of his bedroom. “I love you.”
The day finally arrived, and once they stopped in front of the big school building, Usagi turned around to face him. “You’re okay?” she asked.
“I don’t think I’ll make any new friends.”
“Of course you will,” she smiled. “Come on; let’s go meet your teacher. You don’t want to be late on your first day,” she added, opening the door to get out of the car.
“Everyone, we have a new student joining us today,” his teacher said. “I’d like you to meet Dorian Tsukino, he just moved here from Boston so I want you all to be nice to him.”
Dorian looked around the room nervously as his new teacher introduced him to the class.
“Alright, Dorian,” she said. “You can sit over here,” she pointed to an empty seat near the window. “I already ordered your books; you should be getting them soon.”
“Thank you,” he said quietly, taking his assigned seat.
“Okay everyone, did you all have a good break?” the teacher asked.
“Yes,” the class responded in unison.
“I’m glad you did,” she smiled, and then began with the lecture.
Dorian was too nervous to even try to make any friends before recess, he honestly just wanted to go back home to his old friends. During recess here, the other kids were playing baseball and while he loved baseball, he was not very good at it. His dad was always too busy to help him practice and his mom would always do a lousy job when she tried to teach him some of the fundaments of baseball.
When recess was over, they headed back to their classroom.
Their teacher started passing out small index cards. “We’re doing something new today, does anyone know which military base is nearby?” she asked.
One of the kids raised his hand. “The Orange Air Force Base,” he said once the teacher pointed at him.
“That’s right, very good, Timmy,” she nodded, passing out the index cards to the rest of the students. “We’re going to be writing to our wonderful men and women who serve our country and are stationed here at Orange Air Force Base. Each of you will be given an index card with a name and rank of the airmen you’re going to be writing to. Right now our airmen are in Ethiopia,” she said, pointing at a specific point in the big map next to the board. “Right here, here is Ethiopia,” she continued. “They are on a peace mission helping to keep everyone calm. Now, keep in mind that these men and women have been away from their families for a long time. Why don’t we try to brighten their days with nice words and pictures?”
Writing a letter was no easy task for a second grade class. But Dorian knew he was going to try his best. He looked down at the index card on his hands. “Captain Trunks Briefs, Helicopter Pilot,” he read, wrinkling his nose. He took a deep breath and in his best handwriting he began to write his letter.
Dear Captain Briefs,
My name is Dorian Tsukino, I am in the second grade at Gateway Elementary School. My teacher wanted our class to write to the airmen from the Orange Air Force Base, which I think it’s really close to where I live now. I used to live in Boston, Massachusetts, and just moved here with my mom and my baby sister. My dad is not around anymore, but I really don’t mind it. He was never around before anyways. My favorite color is blue, and I like playing video games and baseball, but I’m not really good at either. Mom keeps telling me I need to practice more, and she tries to help but she’s worse than me.
My teacher says you’re a helicopter pilot in the Air Force. Do you like what you do? Do you have your own helicopter? Teacher says you’re in Ethiopia, I don’t really know where that is, but do you like it there? Is it cold or hot over there? Spring just started over here, and I can’t wait for summer to come. My mom and Aunt promised to take me to the beach during the summer and I really hope I get to see a shark when we go.
Do you have a lot of friends in the Air Force? All my friends are at Boston, and mom keeps saying that once I start baseball I’ll have a lot of friends. I really hope she’s right.
Thank you for reading my letter and I really hope you write me back.
Sincerely, Dorian Tsukino.
Several weeks later, at a base with a classified name no one has heard of, Captain Briefs was returning from delivering crates of supplies to the nearest village, just in time for mail call. Not that he really cared, no one had written to him in a long time anyways.
“I’ll hit the gym now,” he nodded towards his best friend.
“I’ll be there in a sec,” Goten said.
“What is this?” the guy handing out the mail said, followed by a few other shocked laughs. “Hey Cap! Wait up!” he shouted. “Captain Briefs you have a letter! This must be some sort of miracle!”
“For me?” he thought, furrowing his lavender brows. Who would send him a letter anyways? His parents were gone, and he only had his best friend Goten and his family left in the world. He accepted the letter reluctantly, hoping to stop all the commotion.
He was walking back to his barrack when he finally looked down to the envelope he just received. Messy, uneven letters… clearly a child’s handwriting. He sighed in annoyance then; he knew exactly what this was now. Another one of those “Write a Vet” programs at some school.
Trunks was about to throw the envelope on the trash can when he noticed the postmark. Gateway City, California. That was his home, where his base was. He sat down on his bed to read the first letter he received in years.
After reading the letter, and carefully thinking about it, Trunks finally decided to answer to the kid’s questions.
Dear Dorian Tsukino,
Thank you so much for your kind letter. I haven’t gotten a letter from anyone in years. Your teacher is right, you already know my name is Trunks Briefs and yes, I am a Captain at the US Air Force. I don’t have my own helicopter, but I get to fly a lot of helicopters during our missions. I can’t tell you where I am right now, but I can tell you that we’re doing a special mission delivering food and medicine to those who need it. It might not sound like a big deal, but what we’re doing right now it’s pretty important! I love being in the US Air Force, and I plan on being on service until I’m too old to do it anymore. My best friend Goten is my co-pilot, and we’ve been in the Air Force for a long time.
Don’t worry too much about making friends. You’ll know when the right ones come along, trust me on that. Goten and I met back in Middle School, a long time ago, and we’ve been best friends ever since. Your mom is right about baseball; you will make a lot of friends but hey, don’t give her a hard time for not being good. She’s probably trying her best to help. Just be patient and keep practicing.
I’m sorry about your dad, and I really do understand what you’re feeling. My dad was barely around, and he wasn’t the greatest dad, but I know he did his best. Your dad is probably on that same page. The weather over here only changes from wet and hot to dry and hot, but I’m glad you’re excited about spending summer on the beach with your family. You’ll get used to the Californian life in no time.
I have to go to a meeting now, but I enjoyed reading your letter. You can write to me again if you want to, I’ll make sure to answer your questions if you have any.
Your buddy in the US Air Force, Capt Trunks Briefs.