Author's note: I don't own Gundam Wing or its characters. This is set after Endless Waltz.

Little Moments

Noin kissed his cheek as she dropped his coffee before breezing out the door. Zechs knew she had yet another meeting in five minutes. They were currently understaffed, and everyone in the Preventer Corps was working overtime these days. Still, Noin always found some little way to express her affection. It was so nice to not have to hide their relationship. At Lake Victoria and when they had been in OZ, any moments they had together were stolen. It was all the little moments that he was so grateful for now. Zechs couldn't say that their life was perfect. They were overworked, underpaid, and in danger more than half the time.

But one of the things he had learned in their brief time on Mars was that all those details didn't tend to matter as much as people thought. It was making the opportunities to show how you felt that was important. While a romantic dinner every once in a while was nice, truthfully, Zechs was fonder of curling up on the couch and reading mission reports with his partner. Just the fact that she was there with him and if he needed a sounding board or even just someone to listen he had that. The little ways of showing her how he felt weren't something he was especially good at, but he was working on it. And in all honesty, Zechs knew just the fact that he had put effort into something made it special to Noin. The opposite was certainly true.

He smiled at a sudden memory. Life on Mars had been primitive to say the least, and there had been a number of things they had done without. Still, for his birthday, Noin had attempted to make a cake. Attempted since she had to make substitutions for several ingredients that were not on hand, and the result had not been edible. He had found her in their little kitchenette vividly cursing the blacked lump. Zechs had found it rather adorable and had been touched that she would go to such trouble for him.

Zechs sighed as he turned back to his paperwork. This wasn't much of a Valentine's Day for either of them. Noin would be stuck in meetings until nearly ten tonight, and he had a veritable Mount Everest of paperwork to get through. There wasn't much time in there for leisurely romance. That would have to wait until they had a day off. Still, it was something of shame to let the day go to waste. He would have to figure something special out.

That thought remained in the back of his mind as he tackled his abundance of paperwork on his desk. Zechs ended up working through lunch without noticing, but it had the benefit of getting him done by nine. After checking with Une's secretary to find that Noin would be stuck in meetings for at least an hour and a half more, Zechs headed home. There was no reason for him to hang around. He stopped on his way to pick up a few things. Noin would have already eaten by the time she got home but dessert was always appreciated.

He opted for a quick shower then puttered around the kitchen. It didn't take a long time to put together some homemade hot chocolate. He left a mug of it on the counter for along with a can of whipped cream. Zechs was dealing with the dirty laundry that had accumulated on the bathroom floor when he heard her come in. When he was done with that, he found Noin curled up in bed in her usual sleeping attire (one of his shirts), her fingers curled around the mug of hot chocolate. She offered him a sweet if sleepy smile.

"Hey. Thanks for the cocoa."

"Not a problem."

Zechs slid into bed beside her, and Noin snuggled up against his side. He dropped a kiss on the crown of her head. No, he wouldn't trade these little moments for anything.