Disclaimer: they're not mine. In any way, shape or form.

Note - Writing this was pure self-indulgence, especially the flashback! I've been wanting to write a Wufei / Zechs scene and it seemed appropriate for the week that's in it...Straight narrative for a change.

Many thanks to everyone who's taken the time to write in; award for Most Perceptive Reviewer for the last chapter goes to Pikeebo!

Oh, I maybe should have mentioned this before, but I'm ignoring 'Endless Waltz'. Just so you know...

The Oyster Effect:

His lover was like a cat, sometimes, Wufei thought, with the first glimmer of amusement he'd felt for several days. A finicky, hedonistic, extravagantly-bred feline that hated cold and wind and the promise of rain. Their plan of a romantic lunch in a restaurant overlooking the ocean, followed by a long walk on the beach, had been planned in bed that morning without either of them bothering to check the weather forecast, the sky or the outside temperature.

On the plus side, they were the only ones hardy (or perhaps foolhardy was the more appropriate term) enough to choose to sit outside, ensconced at the corner table on a cliff-top terrace, in the face of a growing gale that had already snatched up a menu, two napkins and Zechs' scarf. But they were alone and that meant a great deal after the past few days. The house had been besieged by the media for the whole of the weekend, journalists desperate for a human interest story to fill the lifestyle supplements of the Sunday papers with the newest ex-Gundam Pilot gossip.

Fortunately, a major financial scandal in Europe had broken on Monday evening and by Tuesday morning, only a handful of hacks was still camped by the roadside. They had eagerly followed Duo's car without bothering to check who was actually inside, and it had been easy enough to lose them in a souped-up Lambourghini. Zechs, in the driving seat, had thoroughly enjoyed the chase; Wufei, riding shotgun, had not. There were times when he hated the constraints of peace.

'I'm sorry, 'Fei. I wanted today to be perfect for us.'

Wufei only laughed at him. Weather never bothered him overly much and, truth to tell, Zechs was looking very romantic...the brooding scowl on his handsome face made him look like the hero of a gothic romance novel, and the storm clouds gathering behind him provided the perfect, melodramatic backdrop.

'Stop feeling sorry for yourself, love. This place would be too crowded if the sun were shining; this way we have it all to ourselves. Besides, you're quite accomplished enough without the ability to control weather.'

'Accomplished, am I?' Zechs arched one brow elegantly. 'How exactly?'

'According to the critics, you have a singular gift for painting. You're a wonderful cook and - ahhh!' Wufei broke off his litany as one stocking-clad foot began to roam up his right calf…'and….you have talents in many other areas also….ahhhhh!'

'Any areas in particular?' Zechs teased, working his way a little higher.

'Zechs, stop! If you don't stop you're going to….'

'To what, my love?'

'To scandalise the restaurant staff, for a start,' Wufei hissed, trying not to squirm too openly as a two waiters approached their table, and laid out an array of drinks and a platter of assorted seafood.

'I'm sure they've seen worse,' Zechs replied dismissively, 'and we do have a reputation to live up to, you know.' Grinning, he leaned over; the kiss drifted on dragonfly wings, and Wufei's mouth opened slightly to the gentle probe of his lover's tongue.

'There, that's better.' He pulled back a little, and selected an oyster. 'Try one of these, hmm?'

'I keep telling you, I don't like oysters.'

'And I keep telling you, they're an acquired taste. Just one, my love,' Zechs coaxed gently, touching the coarse shell to his lover's mouth. 'Open for me…Please? I promise you'll get to like it.'

'You've promise me that about all sorts of things you try to convince me to do,'

'And have I ever been wrong?' Zechs teased, choosing an oyster for himself and swallowing, all the muscles in his throat working.

'Like kissing the ocean,' he pronounced. 'Fei, my heart, stop worrying. He'll be fine, Trowa's with him and they've only gone to Duo's therapist; it's not like they're eloping. Now that would give Winner something to complain about.'

'I don't think he needs any more ammunition; he's done quite enough harm already with what he has.' Wufei dipped a crabstick in sauce and glowered at it.

The media had pounced on Duo's latest indiscretion with glee; shots of their night at Steel had shown up all over the weekend newspapers and on various news and entertainment shows, interspersed with all the old, predictable footage of Duo's exploits before, during and after the war and especially the 'incident' with the Leo MS. Various pundits had appeared on various talk shows, usually expounding their theories that Duo was a tragic victim of society and circumstances, or else claiming that he (and all Gundam Pilots) deserved to be shot like the rabid dogs they were.

Quatre had appeared on one such programme the previous night, oozing integrity and concern for his 'close friend' and former war comrade, and stating his distress for said the 'dissolute, damaging and immoral lifestyle' of said friend.

'None of this makes any sense. Duo hasn't actually done anything illegal; all that's really happened is that we had the press camped outside the gates for a day or two, which isn't really anything new, and they've mostly moved on now there's a fresher news story to cover.'

Zechs sighed. 'We agreed we were going to forget this for a few hours, kaerste. I love Duo just as much as you do,and I would do anything in the world to fix this, but there's no point going over all this again. Winner's a sly bastard; even if we could prove that guy in Steel was a set-up, he hasn't done anything wrong in the legal sense.'

'I know he's responsible for it.' Wufei snapped a lobster claw with an audible crack. 'I hate seeing Duo like this. That night was bad enough without knowing it was all somehow engineered by Quatre. And I don't need proof. I just can't work out the point of it all. Damn it, Mil! I'd give anything right now for an hour alone with Quatre and a very sharp sword. It's so unfair that he's doing this; just because he fucked up with Trowa, it's somehow Duo's fault.'

'You are quite incredibly sexy when you get all worked up about righting injustice, you know that? So…are we going to L4 to plan an assassination?'

'Maybe after lunch. And there's something else I want to do first.' Leaning forward, Wufei slid one hand into the fall of platinum hair and his mouth settled on Zechs' as naturally as a homecoming.. His tongue licked, teased the lush lips apart and explored the softness of his inner cheek, before drawing Zech's tongue into his mouth to swirl slow caresses about it, and Zechs was moaning deeply, his arms sliding about Wufei's neck and tugging him into a deeper embrace.

'So I'm sexy, am I?'

'God yes, I've thought so from the first moment I saw you, you know that.'

Wufei smiled, remembering. 'I thought you were more taken with Duo that night.'

'Only until I noticed you.'

That night...it had been the evening of Christmas Day 199. The fourth anniversary celebrations of the war ending. Zechs' first official appearance as Relena's brother in public, despite the fact that he'd been staying in the royal palace Sanq for the past eight months or so. He was loathing every moment of it; the crowded, glittering ballroom, the fake smiles sent in his direction from people who would have been happier to queue for front-row seats at his execution, had Relena chosen not to throw her support behind him, claiming her brother had not been in his right mind during the Libra incident, and producing a veritable phalanx of psychologists who would support her in this.

Not least, he was being driven slowly insane (even more insane than he was officially supposed to be) the inane chatter of the dinner partner Relena had chosen for him.

'They're just the most perfect couple, aren't they?' The girl gushed. 'So happy together?'

Actually, no, Zechs thought, but he murmured something noncommittal and the girl - she was the daughter of some ESUN minister - giggled and blushed, overcome that the notorious prince had actually spoken to her.

The world, particularly the female part of it, was apparently obsessed with turning the relationship between his sister and Heero Yuy into a fairytale romance. It was nothing more than a pretty piece of propaganda, from what Zechs had seen; the princess and her valiant knight errant. Yuy had been Relena's bodyguard for the first year following the war, before resigning to become a full-time student, and he was still a fairly frequent visitor to the palace.

Relena was looking very well in fact; the simple sheath dress suited her and set off the Peacecraft diamonds perfectly but his little sister was in a serious snit about something. That bloody L4 asshole, spoiling her happy Pilots' Reunion, Zechs assumed,. Winner had turned up for the official celebrations late and stayed only long enough to pose for a few photographs before making his excuses. He was taking his time about leaving too, weaving through the crowded ballroom and stopping here and there to talk to the more influential guests.

Yuy, seated at Relena's right hand, cleaned up rather nicely, Zechs noted; that body shown off to excellent advantage by a severely tailored tuxedo. He nodded occasionally to whatever Relena was saying, but his attention was all too obviously elsewhere and Zechs, curious, followed his gaze.

Ah.

Maxwell.

Shinigami, he'd called himself during the war. That merry, taunting gadfly with the incredibleGundam, cutting a swathe through OZ forces and hacking into their computers for the sheer hell of it.

Dear God, had those mad scientists actually gone out of their way to make their pilots as unattractive as possible...? Barton, whom Zechs had met several times during the war and liked very much, might have been presentable enough if one could see his face properly; Winner was an insipid, prissy little ass who affected absurd pastel colours. They'd apparently been grafted together at the hip during the war and for the first couple of months afterward, but nowadays they were being more circumspect, probably due to pressure from the Winner family.

And Duo...not that the ridiculous braid could make him look unattractive, but his hair must be quite mesmerising when he wore it loose, instead of pulled back like in that schoolgirl's style...Quite an interesting little fantasy that, actually, Zechs thought, amused by the idea, and mentally seeing those long legs clad in silk stockings and suspenders, topped by one of those silly little pleated skirts that were currently in fashion and perhaps a crisp linen blouse...Mmmm. Very nice.

As far as he knew, Duo was currently unattached; he and Heero had been a couple at one time but that was one of the things no one talked about. Zechs knew something about what had happened at Relena's first Christmas party; everyone did - you could have been imprisoned in solitary confinement or locked in a sensory deprivation chamber for the past three years (and, come to think of it, he had been in both situations at various times and for varying periods) and still know the basics, but he suspected something else had happened that night. Something between Heero and Duo because the pair had scarcely been seen together since then, apart from the occasional function that they were both expected to attend.

And Duo was very cute, and he was probably lonely and depressed, and just in the mood to appreciate a little romantic attention from a handsome prince...

'Look up, Duo. Look at me,' he urged silently but the young man was studying his plate so assiduously he had to have known he was being watched. Then he stood abruptly, scraping his chair against the glazed floor tiles and left the room.

'Now, where are you off to, my beauty?' Zechs wondered. No sign of Yuy following either. Interesting. Zechs waited just long enough for it not to be obvious, then excused himself to his partner and wandered out of the ballroom. Of course, he had the advantage of knowing the palace, which Duo presumably didn't, and he knew that just outside the room's main doors was a small ante-chamber, the perfect place to go if one were seeking a few moments of solitude, or perhaps planning a little dalliance.

He was there, as Zechs has suspected, standing at the velvet-draped window and staring out at the night.

'I just wanted to get away by myself for a few minutes, 'Fei,' he said, without bothering to turn. 'God, I didn't think it would be this hard to see him again.'

'He's a bloody fool, letting you go,' Zechs said quietly, and Shinigami whirled to face him; not the dejected, unhappy young man Zechs had been observing earlier, but a trained and practiced killer who styled himself the God of Death.

'It's alright. I saw you leaving the ballroom and I - well, I'm finding the crowds a bit hard to take tonight. You probably know how that feels.'

'Yeah. Like I said, I really just want to be alone for a bit.'

'As you wish.' Fuck, it was tempting to stay though. After three years away from Heero, Duo had to be seriously frustrated - Zechs chose not to count the boy's occasional one-night-stands which garnered so much media attention - and would probably fall into his hand like a ripe plum. But is was hardly honourable to take advantage of such heartfelt misery.

Zechs turned from closing the door behind him and immediately collided with a warm body going in. Someone naggingly familiar. Who?

05, his mind supplied. Shenlong's Pilot. The one who killed Treize.

He'd seen pictures of course, but they didn't come close to capturing the reality. The way tendrils of silky, obsidian-dark hair fell free of the braid and drifted against his skin...Skin that was looked the colour and smoothness of warm caramel and probably tasted just as sweet, and if those full lips stopped scowling they would probably unfurl like peony petals. And one could all too easily lose sight of reason and reality and even sanity if one gazed too long into those eyes…

Except that right now he was glaring in a way that suggested he would very much like to add Zechs Merquise and/or Milliardo Peacecraft to his kill tally.

'Where's Duo, Merquise? What did you do to him?'

'Haven't you read yesterday's 'Global Gossip'? Apparently it reveals my evil plans to hunt down and kill all the Gundam Pilots.'

'What?' At any other time it would have been a pleasure to have the L5 pilot slam him up against a wall and pin him in place. Not quite so pleasant if one considered the murderous glint in Chang's eyes.

'He's in there.' Zechs pointed to the door. 'I think he just needed to get away from the crowds.'

Chang nodded, relaxing his hold on Zechs ever so slightly.

'Are you two lovers?'

'That is absolutely none of your business.'

'It is actually. If you are involved with Duo, then I can hardly...'

'You will leave Duo alone! It that understood?'

'Duo doesn't interest me as me as you do.' Zechs could only hope that the words were audible; it was hard to speak with Chang's hand on his windpipe. 'Will you have dinner with me tomorrow night?'

They smiled at each other, through the fine, misty rain that had begun to fall, remembering that less-than-auspicious first meeting.

'I loved you from the first minute I saw you,' Zechs said softly. 'And I've never stopped, not for one heartbeat. Even when I'm freezing cold and starting to get soggy….Wufei, we should get away from this appalling weather. Somewhere warm, with palm trees and tropical fish and a white beach. Shall we? No, 'Fei, I'm serious, why not? The two of us and Duo. Trowa as well if he decides not to visit his sister at the circus.'

'Be sensible, Mil. It's a lovely idea, but Duo has his job;I have papers to write, you have your exhibition coming up. We can't just take off.'

'Why not?' Zechs demanded again. 'I can paint anywhere, you already own every book in the university library, you and Duo have your laptops; and he can make conference calls if he needs to contact Mitch. We could make love in a hammock and fall asleep listening to the ocean. And if I stay here, I'll probably end up killing some stupid reporter and then we'll have to go on the run and live like outlaws and Quatre Winner will be able to go on TV again to say we are all totally debauched and deserve to be in prison.'

'He'd be right about the whole debauched thing!' Wufei decided. 'And the reporters will just probably follow us…'

'Not if we borrow a Sanque jet and use fake passports..No one will know where we are…I can call Relena as soon as we get home and we'll just disappear. No one will be able to trace us…'

Wufei burst out laughing. 'Probably not, since we don't actually know where we're going.'

'Who cares? Somewhere hot - Fiji, Thailand, India, one of those wonderful, exotic places. And you, my love, can wear a grass skirt and orchids in your hair.'

'I am not wearing a skirt. Even if it is an acquired taste…'

'No?' Zechs' eyes gleamed. 'We'll have to see about that. Perhaps we should go home and discuss this privately?'

'We can't, Mil. The cleaners are there and we're still paying the therapy bills for that one girl who walked in on us last time.'

'In that case, the only possible alternative is to find a room in a cheap, sleazy motel and spend the afternoon having cheap, sleazy sex.'