13 Oct 2000
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: Implied yaoi; lemonish het scene; sap
The drawing room had been restored to it's original, ornate beauty. The rose gardens lay just outside and the french doors that led to them had been opened wide to let in their soft perfume.
Zechs was alone in the room, having come down as soon as he'd tucked the silver rose back into its box and hid the thing in his shaving kit. Now it seemed the absolute wrong thing to have done - to come into this softly fragrant place, to be surrounded with the scent that was, and always would be, Treize to him.
The strangeness of the gift, combined with the sight and smell of the garden beyond the doors, gave the afternoon a surreal feeling and it seemed to pull him towards the leafy bushes, like a marionette on strings. He walked forwards, through the doors and out into the garden and stopped for a moment, blinking in the sunlight and staring around at each well-manicured bush. It didn't take him long to find the one he knew would be there. Every gardner who ever planted roses seemed to include one that was a deep, velvety red color. As Zechs approached this particular bush, he couldn't stop the thought that it seemed splashed with blood instead of blossoms - blood that drifted in the clear bright light of space, outward from the broken body of the man he'd always loved and, occasionally, even hated.
Reaching down to one especially large bloom, Zechs clasped his hands around the stem, pulling at it, wanting to bring it close to him. At the same time, he felt its thorns pierce his hand, a sharp, stinging pain that he tried reflexively to pull away from, but his mind wouldn't let him. The rose came away from the bush and he brought it up close to him, staring at it's velvety convolutions. "I've killed you," he whispered sadly to it. "You'll die much sooner than you would have, just because I wanted you for myself..."
A familiar sting of tears filled his eyes. It had been five years since Treize's death and still this happened to him; this pain, this overwhelming sense of loss and regret. He stroked the petals of the rose along his cheek. "It was me, being selfish, that took you away, Treize..." His whisper was barely audible. "I'm so sorry love... and there's nothing I can do to make it better..."
Zechs pressed his face against the petals, fighting back tears that insisted on coming. So much lost... unending grief...
"Zechs?"
A soft voice came from the doors to the drawing room. The blond man opened his eyes and dropped the rose, now untidy and flattened, turning around to see Noin in the doorway. She was looking very young and beautiful, in a pale lavender dress that skimmed her body and highlighted her large, dark eyes. "What is it, Zechs? You look unhappy."
"No," he assured her, walking away from the roses and back towards the french doors. "I was just... reminiscing... about being her as a child. You know how that kind of thing can affect one." He reached the door and held out his uninjured hand to her. "You look beautiful, Noin," he murmured, this at least not a lie. "After we meet Relena, perhaps you'd come for a walk with me? There's a small lake further down the garden that I'd like to see again... and to show you."
Noin's face lit up at the suggestion. "That would be wonderful," she said, stepping forward into his arms and pulling his head down for a long kiss. "Anywhere... as long as we can be alone together..."
"Oh, dear! Excuse me, you two. I didn't mean to intrude!"
There was just the slightest hint of girlish giggle in the interloper's voice - enough to let Zechs know his sister had joined them and probably *did* mean to intrude. Noin's kisses had been comforting, pulling him back from the black sorrow he felt among the rose bushes and they had lingered there, in the doorway to the drawing room, until Relena had come upon them.
Breaking away from Noin gently, Zechs eyed his youger sibling suspiciously. "Your timing is impeccable as always, Relena."
Noin was blushing furiously and also trying not to laugh, so she buried her face against his shoulder.
"Now see what you've done to poor Noin," the tall blond man said in mock anger at Relena. She's never going to be able to kiss me with a straight face again. It's going to send her all giggly."
Relena beamed at the two of them and sat down on one of the sofas. "*I* think it does that without any of *my* help," she said in a knowing tone. "Aren't I right, Noin?"
The dark-haired woman had managed to get ahold of herself and looked first to Zechs and then to his sister. "Well," she said, "I have to admit, your brother does makes me giddy." She smiled up at him. "But only because he's so tall and handsome and sweet and... *mine.*"
Zechs gave her a wry look. "Hmpf - give a woman a reason to wear a white dress and she turns all mushy on you," he chided softly. "I never would have suspected it of you, Noin."
"Only because," she teased back, "you refused to see me this way before. It's been there all the time," she added as she led him back into the room. "Just needed an opportunity to come out."
The door to the hallway opened and Relena's new butler, Ender, brought in the tea and began passing around cups.
"Noin, we have so much to *do* before next Saturday," Relena was saying as she began to pour out. "I've taken care of your invitations, but there are the flowers to be chosen, and the music, and your *dress*, Noin - have you even *thought* about what kind of dress you want?"
Well, I was thinking something sleek - maybe even a white suit with a short skirt..."
As the conversation about wedding clothes deepened, Ender approached Zechs. "Might you be wanting something a little stronger than tea, your Grace?" he asked in a low voice.
Zechs, feeling dazed at how *official* it the women's conversation sounded, looked up at the servant. "Stronger?" he murmured, "Oh, *yes* please... something stronger..."
Ender gave a discrete nod and headed towards the liquor cabinet.
As Zechs took the ice-cold vodka he was handed, he looked down at the cuts left by the deep red rose. /Funny,/ he thought to himself, /they don't hurt nearly as much as they should.../
"All right, then, it's iris and white jasmine," Relena said as she made notes on her portable comm unit. "I'll call Calyx - they have the most beautiful flowers in the country. And we'll go to Anneliese's tomorrow to find a dress. Shall we order you a tuxedo while we're there, Zechs?"
Zechs had been lost in thought as the vodka ran through him, calming his nerves and quieting the anxiety that had been growing in him since he'd gotten the silver rose.
"What?" he said, trying to figure out what they were talking about. He was met with two dubious stares, on blue, one purple.
It was Noin who spoke first, pushing lightly at his knee. "You haven't been listening at all, have you? Why do men always leave it to women to figure these things out?"
"It must be because women are so much better at it," Relena said lightly, draining her tea cup and ringing for Ender. "If we left it to Zechs he'd probably just drag you to some official-looking office building, have a clerk marry you, and head back to Mars."
"And what would be wrong with that?" Zechs asked, lifting a platinum eyebrow. "It sounds practical enough."
"You see?" Relena said to Noin. "No romance in him at all..."
Noin countered with something to the effect that he had his moments, but Zechs's thoughts had turned inward again. He saw himself and Treize at the Khushrenada estate near Kiev. It was one of the few places in the world that Treize could be completely himself and their time there was always sweet and intense in a way that it couldn't be in Luxembourg or Bremen. His sister's comment about his lack of romance had brought back a memory of the two of them, lying on a blanket in Treize's rose garden one perfect summer evening. They had made love in a desire-induced haze and then fallen back on the blanket, staring up at the stars, the dusky scent of roses covering their naked bodies as throughly as any clothing.
He had moved his head to rest against Treize's, and Treize had taken his hand and smiled over at him.
"I do believe, my dear prince, that you have captivated me utterly and that the mere thought of living without you next to me brings nothing but sorrow and despair."
Zechs had smiled back at him and teased. "My dear Duke, I had no idea how poetic you could be in matters of the heart."
Then they had both laughed and Treize had kissed him, a long, lingering kiss that make the fire spark in him again. Pulling back, Treize looked at the stars for a moment and then pointed to one that twinkled silver in the eastern sky. "You see that star? The one that's shimmering? Someday I will give you that as a wedding present."
Not liking the sound of that at all, Zechs looked over at his General and frowned. "I've already told you, more than once, that I'm not going to get married. I'm going to stay with you for the rest of our lives. So there."
Treize looked at him, their noses almost touching. "I meant when you married *me*, you little fool," he laughed and gave Zechs a wink. "I believe that no matter who it is that's joining up with whom, a wedding should be allowed. Don't you? After all, I would be the betrothed of a prince... I could ride up to your palace in a golden carriage."
"With footmen," Zechs added, "and a crowd outside screaming to get a glimpse at your blushing beauty."
"Naturally," Treize agreed. "And you would come out to meet me, looking your most princely..."
"And you your most... Duke-ish. Is that a word?"
"I don't know," Treize mused, "but you could decree it so, just for the occasion."
"Consider it done," Zechs replied crisply. "And I would fill the palace with roses in your favorite scent and color and steal you away to a private garden to be wed to me."
"I think I like that idea," Treize had drawled, "that way when the official said, "kiss the... groom? I could really do it properly..."
Zechs had turned, lying on his side, pressed up against Treize and trailing a stray rose petal down the man's cheek. "I would make sure that you had the best of everything," he said softly. "A beautiful ring, a wedding service that made it absolutely clear how much I loved you..."
Treize had turned slightly towards him, smiling. "And *after* the service?" he'd asked in a teasing voice.
"Well, *afterward*..."
"Yes...?"
"*Afterward*" Zechs had murmured, leaning over so that his lips brushed his lover's, "we'd have to find a comfortable bed somewhere and all of our guests would have to wait and drink themselves silly while we consummated the marriage..."
He'd closed his eyes then, and Treize had given an approving groan and they were off again, lost in each other's eyes and lips and bodies.
/Treize... we were teasing each other... but I meant every word of it, I swear.../
"Zechs? Zechs have we lost you again? Will you take me on that walk now?"
Zechs pulled himself out of the reverie with a start to find that Relena had gone and Noin was standing above him, smiling, and tugging softly on his hand.
"Oh, of course," he muttered, shaking his head to clear the daydream. "Let's be off, shall we?"
It took them thirty minutes to get to the lake, what with winding paths and having to stop now and then to appreciate Relena's restoration work. Zechs pointed out all the places he'd played as a child and Noin asked him countless questions about what he'd been like then.
By the time they had reached the lake, it was sunset, and the water a shimmering thing in the dying light.
"Zechs, it's beautiful!" Noin said, resting her head on his shoulder as they stood there, admiring the tall grasses and waterlilies in bloom. "I could stay here with you forever," she whispered and turned her head to kiss his throat. "I love you so much... and you've made me so happy..."
They were face to face now, silhouetted in the growing twilight, and to Zechs, tired as he was from years of grief and regret and self-hate, Noin seemed a haven of warmth and acceptance.
/Perhaps I can do this,/ he said, looking into her eyes, slipping his arms around her and feeling the sweet desire she'd pulled from him lately. It was a very different thing from the desire Treize had made him feel - hot and urgent and almost feral in its intensity.
This was different. This was soft and warm and decidedly... domesticated. /Perhaps it's possible,/ he thought again. /Perhaps I really can be happy, married to her, fathering the children she wants so badly, watching them grow, forgetting the past.../
A tiny voice seemed to chime through him, as delicate as the gleam he'd seen on the silver rose, and for a moment he could feel the doubt growing again. But he couldn't let it come back, so he pulled Noin to him and kissed her, a long, deep kiss that set his blood afire and left them both flushed and panting.
"She tangled her hands in his hair and brushed her lips against his. "Here, Zechs... right here, right now... I want you..."
"Noin..." he breathed, feeling the softness of her breasts against him, letting his hands trail down to cup her bottom and squeeze it lightly. That was enough. He scooped her up off of her feet and carried her to the soft grass along the lakeshore, laying her down and letting his fingers wander under her dress as he claimed her mouth.
As they wandered along the silk of her inner thigh, he felt his knuckles graze soft, damp curls. She hadn't worn underpants and the thought of her, warm and wet and ready for him was too much to resist.
His fingers brushed the damp curls again, and one slid gently downwards, parting the warm lips of her entrance, slipping inside for a moment, she was so wet.
She gave a soft cry and lifted her hips, pressing on his arms and pushing his finger deeper into her. The heat, the velvet softness of her made him moan and his finger pressed in until his palm was flat against her.
"Oh, God, *Zechs,*" she whispered and let her legs fall open and her hands stretch above her head, a lovely, wanton movement that made Zechs want to take her right there - to push up into her and stroke her until she screamed with pleasure.
Instead, he slowly pushed the dress up to her hips, exposing her bit by bit before lowering his head to her damp fragrance. Starting low, he put his tongue inside her just a tiny bit and then licked all the way up to her trembling core. Once there, he flickered his tongue over the sensitive nub then rubbed it with the flat of his tongue, pressing inside of her now and then to taste her more fully. Her fists curled in his hair and she moaned deeply, writhing beneath him.
He pushed her legs up, lifting her hips off the ground and suckled at her, feeling his erection strain at the cloth of his trousers. One more flicker of tongue against the swollen nub and she came, crying out and pressing against him with a soft, pulsing rhythm.
Zechs could only moan and reach down to free himself, widening her legs and pushing inside of her as gently as the urge would let him. As he did, he felt her come again, the velvety passage clasping him over and over as he began thrusting, slowly at first, then faster, harder.
She was whimpering now, allowing herself to be taken, giving up complete control to Zechs. "Oh... oh... oh, dear God... oh, Zechs!!"
The heat and wetness and her hungry noises were too much for him, pulling him over the edge as he threw back his head and moaned his release, filling her with wave after wave, as deep into her body as he could.
"Oh, Zechs," she whispered, pulling him down to cradle his head against hers, stroking damp, pale gold hair with thrembling fingers. "My beautiful man... my beautiful man..."
He couldn't speak, but floated somewhere warm and soft and hazy. /Noin... Noin... ahhh... Treize.../
End of Part 4
(:./kumiko/rosen4)
