13 Nov 2000
The next chapter - Relena gets something to think about and lime is discovered in the garden.
DISCLAIMER: All Gundam Wing characters are property of Sunrise, Bandai Visuals, Sotsu Agency, and Asahi TV. This work is not written for profit, but for entertainment purposes only.
PAIRINGS: 6X9 AND 13X6
WARNING: yaoi lime scene
Relena was in her private drawing room, sitting at her desk and gazing out one of the tall, heavily draped windows. Sally was near the door, looking at the younger woman with concern after having spent the last half hour trying to persuade her to give Noin and Zechs time to work things out.
"Just let them talk and think - their marriage will be much stronger if they deal with this *now,* rather than later."
"I suppose you're right," Relena replied, "but I really want to take my brother by the shoulders sometimes and shake him. Noin is the best woman in the world for him - why doesn't he *see* that?"
Sally sighed, leaning against the door frame. "I don't know, Relena. In fact I'm willing to bet that Zechs doesn't even know himself."
Relena turned sharply in her chair and stared at Sally for a moment. "You think he can't help himself - that he *has* to have those... feelings - for Treize, I mean?"
The older woman shrugged lightly. "Are any of us capable of choosing who we love? I'm sure life would be a lot easier if we could, but that's not the way it goes." She gave Relena a wistful smile. "At least not in my experience."
Sitting back in her chair, Relena contemplated Sally's words. "I hadn't really thought of that as applying to Zechs," she said at last, voice quieter than before. "It's... it's funny, I probably should have. I mean, look at me - and Heero..." I spent three years in misery because he didn't feel the same way as I did, and if I could have stopped wanting him and chosen someone else, well... it would've meant a *lot* less pain."
"Well, maybe Zechs feels something like that," Sally suggested. "Maybe he was trying to move on from the same thing you experienced, and that's why he agreed to marry Noin. It's obvious that there's *something* between them..."
"But is it enough?" Relena said quietly. She dropped her head to her hands and scrubbed at her face in frustration. "Ooooh! I always thought that Zechs was lucky to have *anyone* at all that felt that way about him - let alone Noin. She stood by him during all those terrible things he did, and she changed him, I know it! I mean, just *look* at him now. He's *far* more mature than he was and I'm certain that Noin should get the credit for that."
Sally only smiled sympathetically, not wanting to say that Zechs's maturity could be result of... well, *maturation.* Surely even Peacecrafts acted differently at 25 than they did at 19. She held her tongue, though. This was one best reasoned out by Relena herself. The impact would be stronger that way.
She noticed the young diplomat looking up at her expectantly, so she corralled her wandering thoughts and spoke. "He'll work things out - really he will. It may just take him some time." She pushed herself off of the door frame, preparing to leave. "But think about it this way. We can *always* have a wedding when he's ready to have a wedding. As you implied, he's been impulsive in the past - shouldn't we be encouraged that he *is* taking his time about this decision?"
A heavy sigh escaped Relena, and she propped her cheek on her fist. "Maybe you're right. This *is* a serious decision... "
"Yes it is," Sally murmured in agreement. "Well - I'm off to look for Noin - see if she needs some company. I talk to you later." She gave the younger woman a quick smile and then disappeared around the doorway.
Relena stared after her, still contemplating. "It *is* a serious decision," she said to herself in a murmured voice. "I just wish he'd hurry up and decide that Noin is best for him!"
Zechs had told Howard everything he remembered about the garden. It was strange how one memory triggered another, and at the end he was surprised at the richness of what he carried with him - a nostalgic glimpse at his past that was forgotten, needing only the sight and smell of the place to be found again.
They were quiet for awhile, a companionable silence that settled and breathed in the early evening light. Zechs looked over at Howard, wondering if he had fallen asleep behind his sunglasses. It startled him a bit, then, when the man turned and looked at him, smiling. The younger man sighed and then murmured, "What should I do, Howard?"
To his surprise, the other man laughed. "Oh, hell - I don't know *what* to tell you about that. 'Course, I've never had the *problem* of having two folks fight over *me,* so it's not like I'm talking from personal experience here, but it seems like if you try to concentrate on what makes you happy - just put all that other shit about what you *should* do and you *have* done aside - and just concentrate on what your... well your *soul* tells you, you know?"
He looked from Zechs out over the twilight garden and shook his head. "Sometimes it seems people make it too complicated. Happiness shouldn't *be* complicated - at least to my way of thinking. If you still yourself, and really listen to what your soul's saying, well... I don't think there's any such thing as getting it wrong."
Standing and stretching, the salvage man stuck his hands in his pockets and looked at his one-time enemy and long-time friend. "Just be still enough, and you'll hear it," he said. "You wanna come back with me?"
Zechs smiled. "I think I'll stay just a little longer - and thanks, Howard."
"No problem at all," the man replied. "Take it slow." With that, he walked down the steps and out through the gate of the garden.
Treize had been hunting over the grounds for Zechs but hadn't found him. He was tired, still not having the stamina he used to, and was about to turn back when he saw Howard, walking along a parallel path in the growing twilight. Curious, he crossed to the other path and followed it the other way, coming upon the walled garden soon after.
"I wonder..." he murmured, and walked through the gate.
He saw Zechs, sitting in the gazebo, his back partially turned towards Treize. The scant light remaining in the quiet place seemed to have surrounded the younger man, making him look as if he were glowing slightly, his hair almost silver in the deep green gloom.
"Surely you must be a faery prince," he said quietly, walking to the bottom of the gazebo steps and smiling up at his childhood friend. "Won't you grant this poor mortal a glimpse of your realm?"
The blond turned and stared down at Treize, silent for a moment. Then he stood and walked slowly down the steps, gaze never moving from the former General. When he drew close, his hand reached out and gently clasped Treize's. "I don't think anyone would find us here," he said, voice nearly a whisper.
Treize gave those long fingers a gentle squeeze. "Then come with me, my friend. I see a lovely place there under the lindens..."
The walked over to the spot, gazing at each other in the dim light, and then began slowly to undress each other. Their shirts went first, tossed on the long, overgrown grass as their hands rose, each to the other man's, and caressed warm skin and muscled chests. Treize pulled Zechs close, tangling one hand in his hair, and kissed him, gently at first, but with growing insistence as the kiss deepened. Two pairs of hands roamed over arms, backs, and tight, rounded bottoms and then the kiss broke, leaving the two men panting and staring into each other's eyes.
"Oh, god, Treize..." Zechs whispered, leaning forward to press kisses along the older man's jaw. "Want you... need you..."
"I'm here, Miri," came the soft reply, as fingers tightened in pale gold strands. "I'm here..." Treize pulled Zechs to the ground and lay alongside him, half over him, taking more long kisses as his hand wandered between the blond man's legs, stroking at the growing hardness there.
Zechs gave a soft cry, his hips arching up automatically, pressing himself against that hand as Treize's kisses trailed down his neck and throat. The older man took the opportunity to open Zechs's fly and push his trousers down long legs, tossing them to the side and rendering the blond completely naked.
"Ahh, dear *God,* Miri," he moaned, pressing his mouth to his friend's sculpted chest and flat belly. "So perfect... so beautiful..." He nuzzled his way down further, taking Zechs's length into his mouth, making him buck with the insistence of his tongue.
The blond man's head turned back and forth on the grass and he couldn't stop whimpering. "Treize... ah Treize! Turn around... please!"
Treize looked up and smiled softly, understanding perfectly what to do. "Miri," he purred, turning around and straddling his friend backward, "oh, it's been so long..."
And then they had both engulfed each other, their movements perfectly timed, as if they had somehow become one being. Sighs and moans filled the nearly dark garden and turned to soft, whimpering cries as each brought the other to intense release...
They ended up lying in each other's arms, trading soft kisses in the grass. Treize was slowly growing hard again as he explored Zechs's body with his mouth and his hands, and Zechs let him do what he wanted, trying to beat back the voice in his head that told him he'd just betrayed the woman who should be his wife.
End of Part 11
(:./kumiko/rosen11)
