30 Ways to Conquer Mars
#018 「アーン？」
A.C. 197, May 4, 07:03am 「We Are A Team」
Gundam Wing © SOTSU AGENCY - SUNRISE - ANB
This is a work of derivative Fanfiction. No claims are made towards the ownership of intellectual rights pertaining to the metaseries.
...
He found him sitting alone in Mess Hall 2, reading a technical manual over what appeared to be dehydrated wood shavings.
He made a face and straddled the opposite bench. "Cornflakes?"
"Fruit salad, actually."
If he had blinked, he would have missed the gleam in his blue eyes as the pilot looked up. Donn grinned.
"Nobody said you've got a sense of humour."
"I'm not surprised," Zechs shrugged, carefully marking his place with a scrap of sapphire ribbon. "People don't get to know me much, lately."
The bulky mechanic put out his hand. "Sheldon Donnovan, Space Guild First-Class."
Zechs looked down at the enormous paw at the end of the small trees Donn had for arms. He could probably take him with a little speed and cunning. He shook hands politely. "Space Guild First-Class, very impressive."
"Yea, well, only the best for the best, eh?" Donn chuckled self-consciously and swung his other leg over the bench to face the other man properly. "So what do you go by these days? Zechs Merquise, or…"
"Zechs is fine."
"Okay, Zechs." The large man beamed nervously, which made him feel bad about being curt. "I wanted to say, well, that I think I understand why you did what you did. There's a bunch of us who do…"
Donn startled at the sudden, sharp look and started back paddling as fast as he could. "That is, we don't mean to presume… we just… uh…"
"The war is over, Man," Zechs said mildly, betraying none of the twisting pangs of pleasure and insult from hearing the news. Some part of him was outraged that people could just look at his exposed history and presume to understand him. Others felt vindicated. There was guilt too, and regret. Treize was the true mastermind, the one who should be standing here in his shoes today, being told that his kind intentions have reached another heart, not him. Of course, Treize would merely laugh and inform those masses that they are mistaken, and all he'd ever aspired to be was a tyrant worthy of his own page in history. "Let it go."
Zechs looked at the man and thought about the kiss he had witnessed on the cameras last night and the things he had said to Noin afterwards. Sheldon Donnovan did not deserve his hostility simply for showing an interest in his partner and friend. "Listen, about Lucy, ah…"
No, he received at least half of it on account of his tasteless shortening of her name.
"…people've been saying stuff, about nobles and soldiers, and uh… you guys seem to be pretty tight… you two aren't, you know… …"
"Physically intimate?" It was fun to watch him dance around the words for all of five seconds. More than that, and Zechs got bored. "Why don't you ask her?"
Donn turned an interesting shade of green. "It wouldn't be… it won't be… it ain't done to ask a lady something like that."
The Lightning Count stirred his dry cereal lazily. "Anyone who has served with the Specials can tell you there are many things that people say happened which we could only wish were true. Filet Mignon dinners were one such favourite." He paused, and chewed on his breakfast. "We were a very tight-knit group. Fraternisation amongst the ranks was strictly forbidden. The General likened it to incest. So no, Donnovan, we aren't."
"Oh good," his sigh of relief rattled through the bench and table. "It's just… I was afraid… with things between me and her and all that, I didn't want you to feel left out... we have to work together and stuff, after all."
Zechs regarded the man behind a thoughtful mask, faintly nauseous that anyone could presume the only meaningful relationships between people to be those that are physically consummated, and quietly annoyed that he thought dating Noin could take her away from him. They were stronger, deeper, than any acts of passion or gifts and roses. "Thank you," he smiled instead. "I was going to say the same. Noin and I have had a long history together, and some habits are hard to break, but you should know I do appreciate that the three of us will be working together as a team."
"Well, now, don't I look the fool?" Sheldon Donnovan, Space Guild mechanic First-Class, guffawed.
It wasn't that he was a bad man, the commanding blonde decided, and it wasn't that he was biased against him in any way, exactly. He was sure Donn was a nice man who worked hard and honestly at everything he does and genuinely cared about positive feelings around the workplace, the kind of man who would volunteer to do the laundry and let his wife hold the remote control. He just didn't like him very much as a person. There weren't many that Zechs did.
"So, Zechs, anyone special in your life?"
Zechs Merquise smirked. "As a matter of fact, I'm engaged."
...
.
A/N:
I realised I should clear things up, this series is not related to "Last Impressions" or "Martian Dust". Both those were meant to be stand-alone one-shots from different possibilities of their relationship that I'd struck upon while I tried to work out the details for this Fan-verse. So, AU to this series, but not AU to Gundam Wing. Hope that makes sense.
So, yea, Zechs apparently suddenly thinks he is engaged. Did I mention about him being one of those strange Aquarius boys?