30 Ways to Conquer Mars

#023 飴玉
A.C. 197, June 3 「Dragostea Din Tei」

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.

...

For their first month anniversary, Donn made her candy and wrapped them in delicate pink and lilac paper. He was so proud of himself that Zechs, who have been trying his honest best to be helpful, could hardly bear to break the news to him that Noin had never, in all the years he's known her, liked sweets nor the colour pink.

"Oh, I know she'll like these," the big man grinned conspirationally, "it's how I got her in the sack the first time."

Any camaraderie the pilot had managed to build up with his mechanic over the last four weeks evaporated instantly.

"She was so moved she almost cried that first time, not," he went on to chuckle, "that our Lucy would ever actually cry."

Zechs said nothing, partly because it would be far too personal to reveal that Noin does cry, and partly because he thought it would be petty to explain that he was probably the last living person to have ever seen her do it.

Donnovan had taken to referring to Noin as 'our Lucy' with Zechs. Since she did not seem to mind his pet names, Zechs did not feel he had any ground on which to object either. After all, Donn was her boyfriend, not his. And because he was Noin's boyfriend, Zechs was on his best behaviour, trying his best not to scare him off. He knew Noin would forgive him eventually if he did blow his top one day and tore into Donn for being generally annoying, though it wouldn't be fair to the poor girl. She had enough problems finding a date without him hanging over her, from what he'd heard.

"Have you any idea how hard it is to hook a girl up when her best friend keeps calling her up to haul his sexy ass out of space on Christmas Day?" His most intimate memory of Sally Po was holding her thick Eurasian braids and trying to keep his shoes clear of the line of fire as she threw up over a balcony at the Preventers' Christmas party, after making the accusation. That made him proud of Noin. She had never before had a female friend who got close enough to her to confront someone else on her behalf, albeit drunk.

It was not the first time he had realised how hard his life and decisions had been on her. He thought of her as his partner, but really, he had treated her as a faithful servant. It seemed natural to expect her unquestioning loyalty and adherence to his plans, even when he made a conscious effort not to ask it of her. She had told him repeatedly and in so many different ways that it was her honour and duty to serve that he had started to believe it, too. His death would have been the gift of freedom he had often wished to give her, and he was sure she understood as well, that day in space when he drew his sword on her. Instead, she blackmailed him into staying alive, further complicating the score.

There were times when he'd wondered what his feelings towards her are and what they would have been if he and she were not so tangled by the strings of fate. There were nights when he fretted about the reality of her emotions, and days when he wondered if whatever he has to offer would be enough. He hadn't thought it through when he told her he wasn't good enough for her and wouldn't ask her for anything until he was. Certainly, that would be his most honest sentiment. Unfortunately, it proved to be rather difficult to live by once he realised his intentions, especially with Donn playing up the part he should have taken.

He ached to talk to her the way he hadn't done since they were teenagers consulting one another on the mysteries of relating to the opposite sex. Something had changed between now and their arrival at Mars and he was afraid it had to do with him becoming a crowd. He wondered if it was because she had started sleeping with Donn, and then if she was sleeping with him at all. She made no signs of it, and he, let's put it this way, the man had picked her up and kissed her in front of everyone who cared to look the very first day the three of them met. Donn was a teddy bear's wealth in public displays of affection.

Zechs used the excuse of returning his lunch tray to escape when Noin entered the mess hall, not wanting to stick around for the lovey-dovey cooing. Moments like that have started to cut him up. Not in jealousy, although he was a little, but from the way she giggles and the suspicion that he could never do for her what Donn does. He was not a stranger to women and romance; he just couldn't be comfortable imagining putting 'the moves' to someone as close to him as his best friend. How does one go about courting a woman who has seen all the worst of you, and the colour of your food-poisoned innards?

From the corner of his eye, Zechs watched Donn present her with his offering, and the unmistakable glow on Noin's face as she gasped and kissed him gladly on the cheeks, and sighed. Donnovan was right, she did like the candy.

...

.

A/N:
Dragostea Din Tei – You will probably recognise this as the real title of the infamous "Numa" song, which translates from Romanian as "Love of the Linden Trees", "Love in Tei" or "Linden-type Love", actually a pretty meaningful poem if one gets past its hype and pop. I mean, of course, the European release version.