3 May 2001
AUTHORS: Kat Reitz & kumi!
PAIRINGS: Treize Zechs and Wufei puddle
WARNING: Oh, oh, angst-ish ^_~ And, Lemon ^_~ But you knew that!
DISCLAIMER: Not my chracters -- though, god I wish they were.
ARCHIVE: Nope, but thanks.
C&C: Yes, please. ^_^
To everyone who wrote to us -- and there were a lot of you -- thank you for your feedback! It was greatly appreciated, but a program crash cost me those treasured individual mails *sniffle* *GLOMPS readers*
Enjoy this one ^_~
The move from the ICU to a private room on the same floor as Zechs was made smoothly and without any incident. After fussing over their new patient, the three nurses in charge of the private medical ward wandered back to the nurses station where a tall, blond man, obviously a patient in his sweatpants, loose shirt, and slippers stood waiting for them.
"My name is Zechs Marquise. I was told I could see Monsieur Khushrenada. May I go in now?"
One of the nurses flipped through her charts. "The ginger-haired man? What's your relation to him?"
Zechs stifled the urge to roll his eyes. He'd asked, he'd been approved -by the nurses on the last shift. Now he had to go through it all again. "I'm his lover." he said flatly, enjoying the slightly shocked look on their faces. "I believe he's asked to see me." This last comment was added for effect - Zechs actually had no idea whether Treize had asked for him or not, but who knew what would work.
"Actually, the nurse from ICU declared that he was starting to get *annoying* with his asking," the older of the three noted. "Let me take you to his room, sir."
Down the hall, and into a small enclosure that couldn't possibly hold more than one patient. The nurse opened the door slowly, letting Zechs in. "I'll be back within half an hour."
Treize was 'resting', drifting in that semi-conscious place that was refuge to him when there was nothing else to do. There was a small radio by the window, that the nurse had turned onto soft classical music, but he couldn't get up and make it play louder because his chest hurt too much to stand properly.
Zechs walked up to the bed, his envelope in his hand. /He's looking better - thank God for that.../ Uncertain as to what to do, given that Treize looked to be sleeping he just stood and watched the other man, trying not to think about what would surely happen.
Finally, the waiting got to him and he leaned forward. "Treize? It's Zechs... are you willing to talk to me?"
"Mmm?" he drifted back quick enough, eyes slitting open before he smiled tiredly. "Hello. I'm glad you're here, Zechs..."
"Thank you, I'm glad to be here." /I knew it... it's not like it was... so stiff and formal... well, best get this over with.../
"I won't ask how you're feeling," Zechs said, finding it hard to meet Treize's eye. "I don't know why people ask that when it's bloody obvious - how are you supposed to be feeling when you've been shot through the chest. Awful, I'm sure."
He wanted to reach out to Treize, hold him and kiss him, but the man in the bed seemed distant, and Zechs wasn't at all sure how to bridge that distance.
"There's something I have to give you... I - " /Go on, say it... damn, why is everything turning to sand around me?/ "I've been asked to give you these," he said at last, handing Treize the papers. "I won't go to prison... as long as I give you these..."
Treize accepted the papers with a shaking hand, glancing over them for a moment before he set them aside, closing his eyes again. Just for a moment, to gather himself. /He doesn't want you. You've finally become the ultimate pain in the ass, and now he doesn't want you anymore.../ It stung, to simply be given his freedom after that -- was it because Zechs knew, finally, how much Treize loved him, and just couldn't deal with it? Or didn't want to, or didn't want it looming above him that he owed a slave his life?
"So, I'm free," he murmured raggedly, opening his eyes again to look at Zechs, expression saddened and pained. "I have to go back now -- Marimeia knows I'm alive. It's on the news..." he sighed softly, reaching his now empty hand out towards Zechs. "I don't want to go. I want to be yours, still."
It didn't make sense to Zechs, what Treize was saying. The words were right, but the tone... so quiet, so lifeless, somehow. Perhaps he said these things because he thought Zechs wanted to hear them... Slowly, he reached out for the open hand, feeling cheated, somehow. This was when he was going to tell Treize that the other man had been right along, that his master *was* capable of feeling something, but now...
"Treize." The name came out roughly, voice hoarse with emotion. "Don't you understand? You're free. Free to go where you want and do what you want...." It got to be too much, touching him that way, and Zechs let go gently and walked to the window, his usual retreat when things got to be too overwhelming. "No more training, Treize... no one's going to make you do anything you don't want to do... you don't have to worry about that kind of thing anymore..." He brought a hand to damp eyes and continued to stare fiercely out on the center of downtown Limoges. /Help me, here, Treize... I'm drowning.../ "No more collars, Treize... and no more master."
There was silence from Treize, and he only closed his eyes, hand clenching into a fist. More silence, and then a stuttered sob left him, tears escaping from tightly closed eyes as he brought the back of his hand up to stifle the sounds leaving him. "You still don't get it," he eked out. "I love you, damn it! I don't want to go -- I was happy to die for you, just to be sure you were safe... and you do *this*! You think I hated my time with you? That I loathed every minute? I'm sorry if it was so *damned* bad for *you*, but it meant a hell of a lot to me!" His voice broke a few times in there, the words pouring in a tired, frustrated rush. "I love you, and just... I opened myself up to you, and you promised you'd do the same! Now you have an easy way out, and you're just god damned taking it."
Zechs spun around, the expression on his face half anguished, half angry. "An 'easy way out'?? Did I just hear you say that, Treize? I was told that I could be imprisoned and lose everything I have, or I could grant you your freedom. Those dammed police officers came to my room and they told me to *mail* you those papers, as if I should just go home and pretend you never existed - get away from you and let you go back to the life you had before the bastard who went to prison fucked it all up for you."
He took a step towards the bed. What did it matter now? Treize wouldn't believe him anyway. "You don't remember me coming to see you right afterwards, do you?" The low voice was shaking. "You don't remember me leaning over and whispering into your ear... the strangest and hardest words I've ever said in my life... but I said them to you, Treize... even though you didn't hear me." Another pass of a hand over his eyes and he continued. "I wanted this to be so different... I wanted to be able to tell you..." Zechs's voice broke and the tears came despite every effort he made to stop them. "And now it's all over and I never got the chance..."
Seeing that man crying broke something inside of Treize, some of the last stubbornness, as he sat up, wincing at the sharp pain that laced through him. "Zechs... Master." That helped him clear his head some. "It's only over if... if you leave me," he spoke, lifting one hand to wipe the tears off his face. "I want to stay with you, Zechs, I really do..."
There was a moment's pause and then the tall blond walked to the bed, sat down, and picked up the papers from where they lay on the bed. He held them up in front of Treize's face and ripped them in two. Holding the torn parts up, he looked Treize in the eye. "That's what I wanted to do, Treize. I wanted to tell you... tell you that I didn't want you for a slave any longer... because I just want *you* too much..."
Zechs's hands dropped to his lap, but his gaze held steady. "You were right... it really was there... you were willing to die for me and when I thought you might, it was so bloody obvious..." Slowly he brought his hand up to caress Treize's pale cheek. "I love you, Treize. I love you more than life itself, and if I could have given my life for you, if that would have been the only way that you'd have survived... I would have done it without thinking... I would have done anything... for you."
"Ahh, Gott," Treize breathed out softly, trembling as he reached out to pull Zechs close. "Zechs, Zechs.... Ich liebe Du." He wanted to do more than just embrace the man, but his chest hurt too much, body screaming protest from what little he *was* doing. Tears were there again, and Treize didn't care it they were from pain, or joy, or what, he was simply happy, glad to know that he'd been right, to know that Zechs loved him.
But he still had to go back, and that made him sad. "I-I still have to go back, but I..." So hard to speak, hard to put his thoughts into words and to not just kneel in front of his owner -- ex-owner -- and wait to be loved. "I'll come back to you, I promise. Ich Leibe Du."
Hearing those words, the blond man froze for the briefest moment and then pulled away. "Go back?" He only breathed the words, a slow fear creeping over him of admitting the impossible, and losing the man anyway. "Why... why do you need to go back? You said you didn't want to..."
"I have to do things," he murmured quietly. "I.... *need* to go back to close things up. I don't know how long that'll take me to do."
Trying not to give in to a strange sense of numbness that threatened him, Zechs nodded his head. "All right," he said quietly. "I guess... you know where I'll be... whenever you..." He couldn't bring himself to say, "come back" because that would mean accepting that Treize was going to leave. And that he just couldn't do. Not then.
It occurred to him then that Treize might be reacting so lukewarmly because of the lateness of his confession. Why hadn't he told Treize how he felt before now? Perhaps if he had, the news would have had more meaning for Treize. As it was, though...
Ducking his head, he fingered the material of Treize's blanket and tried to salvage what was left of his admission. "I'm sorry that it took so long for me to realize how I felt... I wasn't lying to you before. It's only that... it didn't seem real, somehow, until the situation became so desperate..."
As it was, it almost felt like something Zechs was telling Treize to make him feel better, because he'd saved his life... And that stung a little, that possibility.
"Lay with me, Zechs, until they make you go," Treize pleaded quietly, moving his arms to pull Zechs down against him, though he lacked the strength. "I miss being in your arms."
Zechs did as was asked, lying down next to Treize, careful to avoid the IV tubing. He couldn't think of what to say. His confession had been received with with a quiet calm and then Treize had told him he had to go back. That was it. End of story. What had been the most momentous act of his entire life was over, and it didn't seem to matter much to the one he'd done it for. /It figures, Zechs,/ he told himself as they lay close together. /You've lived your whole life denying that feelings like these were even possible for you. Why should Treize really believe it...? Of course! He doesn't. That's why he's acting as if doesn't matter much. He thinks I'm just doing this to be polite, because of what he did for me... And if I try to tell him otherwise...? He won't believe that either... Game's over, old chap. You lose./
Tired, hurting physically and mentally, could do little but lay there, holding Zechs and being held. The slow, steady breathing of the other man, the warmth of his body... the nights and days filled with passion... /What can I do...? He's not my master anymore. He doesn't have any obligation to me at all.../ "I wish it hadn't happened this way," he murmured softly, fully relaxed against the bedding. "I wish I could have stayed yours... Collar and all."
Now the horrible cold, the sense of being frozen, overwhelmed the blond man. /'I wish it hadn't happened this way.' He doesn't want this from me... he wanted me to love him... only as long as he was a pet... this other wish, this has been mine alone... so it doesn't even matter that the police got there first. He'd have been just as unimpressed because he never wanted me to give him his freedom to begin with... God, how could I be so stupid.../
"Yes, well... I suppose if you really want it that bad you can come back and sign the contract this time and you'll be my slave legally..." /I thought you wanted so much more.../
"I don't want that, though," Treize sighed softly. "I want... more. I want to work, I want to raise Marimeia, and I want to live with you." /But you're a slaver, and I can't bring Marimeia up in that environment. And how can you love me when you have all those pretty boys waiting at your call to have sex with./ He hugged Zechs a little weakly. "I want to be your equal." /But there's Wufei, and he loves you, too, without any of the complications I bring with me.../
"Yes, I'd like that, too..." /But we can't make it happen, it seems... the way you're talking... we should both be so happy right now, and look at us.../
He turned his head to the wall. "But it doesn't seem like you feel that's possible, Treize."
"I just..." To tell him, or not? "I love you too much to want to share you with anyone but Wufei," Treize uttered at last. "But that'd be asking you to change your life so completely... and I'm just not worth it."
The blond head turned sharply back to Treize and Zechs's hand came up to cup the other man's pale cheek. "What are you talking about?" he said in quiet but fierce tone. "Haven't you understood anything I've said? I *love* you! How can you say you're not worth it if I'm telling you that I *love* you? Does mean that what I feel for you is worthless, too? Why would I want anyone else? Why would I want my life to stay the same when the most profound thing in my life has happened inside me? You really don't understand what I'm saying, do you? A man who's in love with someone... with someone who loves him back has no business owning slaves. I don't want this kind of life anymore - that's what I'm trying to say and you haven't heard it at all!"
"What will you do with Wufei?" Treize asked softly. /Do you love him at all? he loves you so much.../ "He loves you, too, Zechs..." Sapphire eyes closed tightly again, tears leaking from the corner of one as he hugged Zechs again, pressing his cheek to that hand. "I'm so sorry... I just want to go straight back to England with you, and have it just be you and me, no complications. I just..." Another hug, as painful to give as it was mentally. "I need you so much, Zechs... It hurts. I just want to be with you, Zechs... that's all."
"No... it's not all... if that were it you wouldn't be going back. What you want isn't as simple as you make it out it be. And given everything you want, I'm not sure how you can fit me in." his hand fell back down to the blanket and his expression became profoundly sad, almost one of grief. He sat up, back to Treize, long hair covering his face. "I worked so hard, Treize... to be able to say that to you... but all it did was give you more problems. I thought... well, I thought you'd react differently than the way you did - my own stupid fault that it wasn't the way it should have been - but I just seem to have made you unhappy, and I'm so sorry for that... so very, very sorry..."
He'd never felt emptier and each quietly resigned reaction from Treize just confirmed for him that whatever they had before the shooting, before the police,... before Zechs had told Treize he loved him, whatever that was had gone and left them bereft of each other.
Standing, he walked slowly to the door. "No matter what you think, I did mean what I said. I really did think that it would make you happy, and I'm so sorry that it's done the opposite."
"Zechs, don't leave," he pleaded softly, trying to sit up to go after him. "I've missed you..." His voice ached, chest hurting now nearly too much to bother speaking. "I don't have a choice about going back, Zechs -- I can't shun my daughter now that she knows I'm alive. And I have to prove to myself that I can be more than your kept man when I do come back." /If you even want me./ "So please, don't leave like this..."
Zechs had reached the door and know he balled his fists up against it and leaned heavily on them, hiding his face from Treize for a moment. "You're not making sense, Treize! You say things like 'I wish I could just be yours, collar and all,' and then also that you want to prove you can be more than my 'kept man.'" He turned, leaning back against the door and stared at the man in the bed. "What is it you really feel, Treize? I can't tell anymore."
"I love you, and I want to make you happy," Treize whispered, looking up at Zechs with tearful eyes, expression so very tired and frustrated. "I want to make you happy, but I can't do that if I'm nothing but your pet. There's a compromise between the two that we have to find together..."
"So everything I've said to you - that I love you, that I don't want my old life now, that I'm willing to change - that all means nothing? You still think the only way I want you is as a pet? Even when I've said the exact opposite of that? What else do you need to hear? Why else do I have to do to convince you of this?"
Zechs ran his fingers through long bangs and paced the floor a couple of times. "I thought the hard part was getting myself to say it, but now it seems that was simplicity itself compared to getting you to believe that I *mean* it!" He sighed in exasperation and looked over at Treize. "Your tired, and it looks like they're late with your pain medication. We'll talk about this another time... But I'll tell you this, Treize," and he pointed his finger at the man in the bed, "I *will* convince you. I don't know what in hell it's going to take, but I *will* make you understand."
He turned to go and a nurse bustled in with medication for Treize. "Visiting time is *over*," she told him, saying it loudly and slowly, as if he had some sort of mental deficiency. Standing in the doorway, the blond looked back at the older man with a sad but determined look and mouthed, "I *do* love you. I *do.*" Then he turned away and left the room.
And Treize knew, but... ah, it was too damned complicated. He wanted to sleep just seconds after he took the medication the nurse brought in for him, but even more, he wanted to sleep with Zechs in his arms. There was nothing at all so good as sleeping in Zechs' arms, safe and...
Loved.
"A phone-call for you, Monsieur Khushrenada," the nurse announced, entering his room. A handful of days had passed, and Zechs had come to visit often, but usually when he was sleeping. Even when he was awake, they only talked around in those same hurtful circles, or avoided it completely.
"You're going to be released this evening, you know that? A plane ticket arrived for you, and it's been put with your things."
/Plane ticket... gott./
"Thank you," he murmured, picking up the phone that was given to him. "Hello?"
"T- Treize? Is that you? It's Anne, darling. I'm sorry but... I didn't think it was you - you were speaking English. You *never* speak English! Imagine that... Oh, what am I talking about, how *are* you, Treize? Are you in pain? Oh, I've *missed* you so *much.*"
"I'm fine, Anne," he replied, voice softer than it had been when she'd last heard him speak. Something was subdued about it, something... different, not quite the Treize of before. "I'm fine -- how are you? And Mari? I received the plane ticket you sent..."
"Ah, good - I just can't tell you how... well, relieved and... and overjoyed really I was when I heard you'd been found. I can't *wait* to see you, and Mari, of course is so excited she can barely *speak.*"
Treize smiled just a little, whole-heartedly looking forward to seeing his daughter again. "I... we, have so much to talk about, Anne, when I get back... I'm not the same person I was when I last saw you."
"Of *course* not, darling. Who could expect you to be after the horrible things that man must have *done* to you! Dear God, I'm *so* glad they found you and got you away from him!" Her voice sounded like a shiver itself as she spoke. "I understand that adjusting to life back here is going to take time, Treize. I really do understand that, and I'll try not to push you into things that you're not ready for."
He sighed softly into the phone, a tired sound. /How to begin, how to begin.../ "Anne. Zechs is a good man -- you must realize that I took a bullet to save his life because I wanted him to live."
"That's my Treize," she said softly. "You took that bullet because *you* are a good man, not necessarily because he is. Even someone like that couldn't take your goodness away from you... Oh, I can't *wait* to have you back!"
"I can hardly wait to see you and Mari again," he murmured, closing his eyes for a moment. "Has she been doing good in school?" /Did she get the letters I had Zechs send to her...?/
"Well, her grades have slipped a little, but that's understandable. We both thought you were dead -" Her voice broke a little and there was a pause. "We thought you were dead," she tried again, "until the letter to Mari came... then we didn't know what to feel - joy because you were alive or sadness because you weren't with us. But all that doesn't matter now. You're safe and you'll be coming home. Thank God..."
"You have to understand, Anne, that it was very kind of Zechs to let me send that," Treize murmured. "He really is a good man, and I owe him a lot." /I love him. He... loves me./
"Treize! You owe him *nothing!* If anything he owes *you* for the suffering he put you through. For ripping you away from the life you had here, for tearing you away from your daughter, and your fiance. Oh no, love, nothing you can say will ever convince *me* that you owe *anything* to that monster."
The urge to protect, to defend, rose up hotly within him. "I've been with *four* masters, Anne -- Zechs is simply the last one. He didn't know where I was from, only that my third master was starving and hurting me. He's a *saint*."
"How can you even *think* that someone who makes you call him 'Master' could be *good* in any way? Treize you need to be home for awhile, then you'll see him for what he was."
"My opinion of him, Anne, isn't going to change. Zechs saved my life, gave me a reason to go on and not kill myself a the first chance I got. He gave me hope again, and goals," he spoke, voice still softened. " 'Master' is simply a form of respect in the slaving world."
"Dear God, Treize - the way you say that, 'the slaving world,' so casually as if it wasn't an absolute horror! Don't you see - that's a prime indicator of how far it had gotten. You'll see - when you've been home - you won't be able to talk about it like it was nothing unusual. Oh, Treize..." Her voice was quavering and she broke off and soft sobs could be heard through the line.
"Anne." His voice was softly chiding now, still soft. "Anne. The rumors make some things out to be better, some things out to be worse. But it's changed my life drastically, without argument. I don't know what I'm going to do when I get back there, Anne..."
A moment of silence passed between them, but she seemed to be pulling herself together. "You don't have to do *anything*, dear heart. Just be with us, and love us, and let us love *you.*"
He chuckled ever so softly. "Mmm. I've missed so much, Anne, I know, but... there's so much that's changed. I... apologize, but you're going to be in for a shock."
Another pause and then, "What do you mean, Treize?"
Now it was his turn to be silent, gathering his thoughts. "Anne... I've changed both physically and mentally. What I've undergone has affected me deeply, and I'm currently still trying to sort out my sexuality."
Stunned silence, a small gasp, and then Anne's voice, raised, obviously both upset and indignant. "What. Did. He. Do to you!!! Treize! You do *not* need to "sort out" your sexuality! You're a grown man, not an adolescent, you know where you stand on that! The two of us... all those times... Just because that horrible monster abused you that way, you think you might *like* it?? Oh, God Treize - you get back here *now*. You need *help* Treize, and I'll make sure you get it! Just get back here!"
He'd been expecting it, and held the phone out some from his ear, waiting for silence before he moved it close again. "I'll be released this afternoon -- I'll spend the night in the hotel, and take the afternoon flight to Bonn tomorrow."
"Thank God," she said again. "I'll make an appointment for you with Dr. Kroll. He's the best in the country, they say. Oh, *please* be careful Treize and we'll be waiting at the airport for you."
There was a silence from his end, again, then, "Anne, I don't need help. I just need to talk things out with you so you can *understand* where I stand on things now."
"Whatever you say, sweetheart. Just get home safely, all right?"
"I will," he spoke, barely a whisper. "Give my love to Mari."
"Of course," she said, "We'll see you then."
"Good-bye." He hung of the phone gently, sitting back in bed. There was so much hope in him that things would go well, and so much doubt that they'd go well. He wanted to go back to England with Zechs, forget everything else that had happened, except that Zechs loved him.
At 4pm, one of the day-shift nurses came with the physician who had been attending to Treize's wound since the transfer from the Intensive Care Unit. She opened the dressing, poke into some tender areas, and bandaged him afresh, pronouncing him far from "healed" but well enough to leave the hospital.
"Would you like some help, packing your belongings, Monsieur?" the nurse asked after the doctor had left.
He smiled at her a little weakly. "No thank you, Madam -- There isn't very much at all to pack." Just the things from his tuxedo that had been salvageable after he'd been shot, and the few things Zechs had brought him. /Zechs.../ "Do you know where my companion is? He's supposed to come pick me up."
"You have an hour until you leave," she chuckled. "Do you want me to send him in when he gets here?"
"Could you?" he asked, expression perking up a little as he stretched some, careful to not move his chest much. /And outside opinion, perhaps.../ "Have you watched the news lately, Madam?"
"Oh, I try to watch what I can," she said, tidying up the room as she talked. "Why do you ask?"
"Because I was kidnapped and they're trying to press charges against Zechs for buying me," he murmured, trying to sound off-handed about it. "It doesn't bother me at all -- I've just been wondering why so many other people seem to want his head on a platter for it."
Her face paled. "He... he *bought* you, monsieur?"
"I'm free now," he pointed out, "but he bought me."
"No one has the right to *buy* anyone else," the woman said, her voice faint but still, somehow, stern. "And you are going home with this man? He's picking you up? I don't think that's a good idea at all!"
/Well. Everyone thinks I'm mad, then,/ Treize mused, looking at the nurse carefully. "Why don't you think it's not a good idea? That's all I'm trying to understand."
"If he's the kind of man who would think that he could actually *own* someone, who knows what else he's capable of!" she said in some alarm. "How do you know that he's to be trusted? How do you know that he won't take you against your will again? How can you believe anything a man like that says!" She shook her head disapprovingly. "Don't do it, Monsieur. That's just *asking* for trouble."
She was cast a very weak smile, just uneasy, tired. "Apparently being a slave has completely warped my perception of that sort of slavery."
"I'm not surprised at that at all, Monsieur," she murmured. "You rest now." With that she left the room.
Sighing again, Treize sat back, eyes closing. /I want you Zechs... So badly. You make me happy in so many ways.../
An hour later, Zechs peered in the door and saw Treize sleeping. He walked quietly to the bed and stood for a moment looking down at the older man before leaning down and placing a soft, chaste kiss on Treize's lips.
"Mmm." A pleased sound rumbled free of Treize, as he lifted a lazy hand to grasp Zechs' hair and keep him close. Only one person had hair that tickled his face like that, the distinct smell, and that way of kissing. "Zechs."
"My love," whispered Zechs, pressing another, even softer kiss to the corner of Treize's lips. "Are you ready to leave?"
"Papers already signed," he sighed softly, sitting up carefully to nuzzle against Zechs' face. "Let's get out of here. I hate hospitals."
The tall blond straightened and held an arm out to help Treize up. "They got a wheelchair for you - hospital policy I'm told."
"Wonderful," Treize sighed, rising and using the other man for support. "Are we... going to have tonight, Zechs...?"
Zechs look over, slow surprise crossing his face. "I... I didn't think you'd want that. You're leaving, after all..."
"I'm not leaving forever," Treize uttered, clinging close, cheek resting against Zechs' shoulder as he closed his eyes for a moment. "I go back tomorrow, Zechs. But I want one more night to give me something to hold onto when we're apart."
Zechs's arms went around Treize then, but he didn't tell the other man that he had serious doubts about him returning. Once Treize was back at home, among friends, with his daughter, everything would change. His time in England would become more and more like a bad dream to him, and no doubt he would find excuses why he couldn't leave the place. Their bond would grow more and more distant until one day he'd get a polite phone call from Treize that he wouldn't be coming to England after all. He'd thought it all through, and was fairly certain it would happen, just the way he imagined it.
But he also knew that he couldn't deny Treize anything just then. "Of course - tonight... we'll stay at the hotel," he said, forcing a smile. "Let's go."
"Thank you..." He cut himself off before he uttered 'Master', leaning into Zechs' tender embrace.
End of Chapter 31
(:./kumiko/velvet31)
