"Breathless"

Written By: Waterliliylf

Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing. All rights remain with Bandai, Sotsu and associated parties. No profit being made here.

Rating: R

Warnings: sap, angst, fluff

Pairings: 3x4, 13x2

Summary: Quatre finds himself introduced to an annoying young man, one he can't seem to get out of his head.

"Breathless"

Chapter 8:

[In which Duo and Treize go for a picnic and some innocent caviar is horribly abused…]

Duo was waiting when Treize pulled up in front of the house, sitting on one of the front steps, a backpack at his feet.

Even after two years together, having someone to come home to was still one of the most wonderful things in the world. Especially when that someone was Duo. Watching the lovely young man jump up and move to greet him, generated a warmth that spread out from his heart.

'Everything OK?' Duo's eyes roamed over his face for a moment, before two arms slid around Trieze's neck.

'Very much so.' The taller man returned the hug. 'My dearest aunt says it's about time we made it official and she's planning to hold a dinner party for us.'

'Glurk.' Duo grimaced. 'Will we have to attend?'

'As the guests of honour, I would imagine so.' He kissed the tip of Duo's nose. 'Are you quite sure you want to marry someone with hordes of horrendous relatives?'

'Quite sure I want to marry you.'

'Good. Duo, I'm sorry I was so cranky earlier.'

His love grinned up at him. 'It's OK. Makes a change, you being the grumpy one in the morning. I thought that was officially my job. Now, come on.' He gestured to the bag lying at his feet. 'Time for lunch.'

'I was planning to change first, sweetheart. I'm not exactly dressed for a picnic.'

'We're not going far.' Duo ran his tongue slowly across his lips. 'You look really good in that suit, but I wasn't actually planning on letting you keep it on for long. Or are you not really hungry?'

He spun out of Treize's embrace and headed around the back of the house, that beautiful rope of hair swinging jauntily with each step.

'Wait, love.' With his longer legs, it didn't take long to catch up, especially as Duo wasn't going very fast anyway.

There was something wrong though. Duo's smile was as bright as always, plastered resolutely to his face, but there was something behind his eyes… From bitter experience, Treize knew that pushing him would be a mistake; a sure way to stem any possible confidences. Instead, he held his lover's hand as they made their way through the formal gardens to the woods beyond, and made appropriate responses to Duo's chatter and silencing him every so often with a kiss.

Duo would tell him when he was ready. For now there were shafts of sunlight drifting through the leaves overhead, and bluebells underfoot, and his love's hand in his. More than enough.

'I did something really dumb this morning,' Duo announced suddenly, pulling Treize to a halt.

'Hmm? I seem to recall you being incredibly loving and supportive.' A faint smile touched Treize's mouth, remembering. 'Even when I woke you at some ungodly hour.'

'After all that.' Duo gnawed at his bottom lip, a sure indication that he was stressed over something. 'You know how we said, before we got a dog, that we wouldn't bring it into the gallery until we knew it was totally trained and good with people.'

Ah.

'That was the agreement, yes,' Treize said neutrally.

'Yeah.' Duo flicked his braid over one shoulder, looking at Treize with that once-characteristic mixture of defiance and pleading. It was so long since he'd seen him look like that. 'Well, I screwed up. Treize, I'm really sorry. It was a damn stupid thing to do, but she looked so lonely and she's never been in the house alone, and I know it would only have been for a couple of hours, but I thought I'd be really careful and keep a close eye on her, and I'm not making excuses but that Japanese guy went to the bathroom and I totally forgot I'd left your office door open.'

'I see.' Treize reached out and tilted Duo's chin up to look into his eyes. 'Please tell me she didn't chew a painting.'

'Not a painting. Please don't be mad, but you know that Ethiopian rug in your office?'

Treize closed his eyes briefly, fighting for some perspective. It could have been worse. It could have been, horror of horrors, Duo saying he'd changed his mind about them. It could have been Duo saying he'd met somebody else. Not, really, that he thought that would happen; he knew how much Duo loved him, but it was hard to vanquish nightmares entirely.

Still, it was useful to think of a worst case scenario. Nothing was so bad in contrast. Not even a piece of woven fabric that had lasted for centuries; that was a living part of history. It wasn't just the cost, which was bad enough. He'd been the custodian of a precious, irreplaceable object; he'd had a duty to keep it safe.

'Is it totally destroyed?'

'No! No, it's not. She didn't actually chew the thing; just piddled on it.'

'Just?' he echoed faintly.

'Bad choice of words,' Duo said. 'I've already called that guy Howard knows who runs that cleaning business. He picked it up before I left the gallery this morning. He said the colour might fade a tiny bit but otherwise it should be OK.' He looked at Treize miserably. 'It was totally, totally my fault; I'm so sorry. If you want to yell at me or beat me or something, go ahead. I deserve it.'

'I don't really want to do either,' Treize mused, and then saw the look in Duo's eyes. 'My love, did you really think I would do that?'

Duo shook his head. 'I'd prefer you to, sometimes. You know, it kills me when you go all cold on me.'

'I know.' Treize pulled him into a firm embrace. 'Well, if your dog chews any more of my footwear, I'm going to smack you with whatever shoe she's ruined. Duo, we got a dog on the strict understanding that the gallery was going to be out of bounds for a while, at least.'

He sighed; there was karma in there somewhere. He could never resist Duo and now Duo was apparently in thrall to his new pet. Wonderful. That essentially made Treize himself vulnerable to a dog's whims.

'I should have known you wouldn't be able to resist a pair of pleading eyes. In future, if you must take her with you, can you at least ensure she's left somewhere where she can't do any damage?'

'Of course I will. I swear. I'm meeting Trowa tomorrow night. I'm going to ask him to come over and give us some training sessions and we can maybe get some sort of crate or pen or something for when we're not watching her.' He took a deep breath. 'I promise, I'll be more careful in future. I'll really try not to let her chew any more of your stuff. Is that OK?'

'You've been making amends for that so very beautifully, it's almost worth sacrificing a shoe or two.'

Duo laughed, winding both arms around Treize's neck and kissing him. 'I was sort of thinking the same thing, earlier.

'Fine. I'm glad you've made up with Trowa.'

Duo gave him a long look. 'How exactly did you know we'd fallen out?'

'I was actually here on Sunday, remember? I saw the two of you together. Is everything all right now?'

'All good. I called him from the gallery this morning.' That beautiful, eminently kissable mouth quirked into a grin. 'He wasn't too pleased to be called first thing.'

Treize shook his head. 'I'll never understand the two of you.' That was perfectly true. Still, Trowa was important to Duo; that meant he was a part of their lives. He tried to bear it with as much grace as possible, to remember just how much in Trowa's debt he would always be.

He tried not to mind that, in the middle of his worst nightmares, Trowa was the one Duo called for help. No. He wouldn't think of that. Not on a sunlit afternoon with his lover smiling at him.

'I believe you promised me lunch earlier. And entertainment.'

Duo's smile widened, pressing a soft kiss to that sensitive place on his lover's jaw, the place that made Treize's knees turn to liquid. 'Little appetiser.' He flopped down on the ground, unzipping his bag. 'Just give me a minute to get everything ready, OK?'

'You never said I'd have to wait.'

'Patience is a virtue,' Duo retorted primly, violet eyes sparkling. 'You can make polite conversation or something.'

'Fine.' Fine; two could play at that game. Treize stretched out on the blanket Duo unfolded for him. 'How did you get on with Quatre's friend?'

'I think OK,' Duo said cautiously. 'He's not really Quat's friend; one of his sisters is friends with the fiancée. He's a real IT geek; hardly two words to string together. Pretty cute, though. Amazing blue eyes. Wasted on a straight guy.'

'Not something I really needed to know,' Treize remarked. 'Is he buying the Emerson?'

'Probably. He wants a second opinion though, just in case we're trying to palm him off with a forgery.'

He looked so fiercely offended that Treize had to laugh. 'Oh dear. Did he insult your professional ethics? My poor darling; I hope you weren't too rude to him.'

Duo sniffed, laying out a platter of cheese and cold meats. 'Theft and forgery are two totally different things. I was perfectly polite to the asshole. Oh, I totally forgot to tell you; remember there was someone at the door this morning? It was two guys from some cleaning service; apparently this Yuy guy had called them in to fix the rug. He overheard me ranting to Laragh about what she'd done. He'd paid them and everything. And they literally arrived five minutes after he'd left. Kind of weird, huh?'

'Perhaps he felt in some way responsible? After all, you did open the gallery especially for him,' Treize suggested neutrally, resolving to keep a close eye on Mr. Heero Yuy. Duo was far too innocent about some things.

'Maybe, You know that guy Chang from the National Gallery? Yuy's getting him to come in tomorrow to give his professional opinion.'

'Do I know someone called Chang?' Treize wondered, not terribly interested.

'The Chinese guy who runs the Oriental Department at the Nat. You've met him; he was at that gallery fundraising thing that we went to a couple of weeks ago.'

'Oh, him; the one who might have been good-looking if he'd ever smiled.'

'Hey!' Duo jabbed him in the ribs. 'You're an engaged man now, Mr. Khushrenada. You're not supposed to notice other guys.'

'You did start it,' Treize gasped, squirming away from Duo's fingers and tumbling him backwards on to the blanket. 'Talking about Yuy or whatever his name is.'

'Not fair.' Duo squealed as Treize's fingers found a particularly sensitive spot. 'He's engaged and straight so it's OK to make comments. Chang's gay; so he's off limits.'

'Ah. I hadn't realised we had that particular rule. How on earth do you know that?'

'Well, I don't really know,' Duo admitted. 'But Zechs thinks he's seriously hot and he's convinced he's gay.'

'Zechs is convinced that every personable male in the universe is gay. Or that he can persuade them to be. How does he know him?'

'Uh.' Those huge indigo eyes fluttered closed as Treize began to press a trail of soft kisses along his jaw. 'Remember you went to Rome last month for that auction and I went to Cargo with Quat and Zechs? Chang was there but he took off before Zechs could make a move on him. 'Course, Zechs was all over Quat like a heat rash, so maybe Chang thought he didn't have a chance.'

Treize laughed, pulling off Duo's hair tie and sliding his fingers through all that glorious hair. 'One of these days, Quatre will actually decide to settle down, and realise that he and Zechs would make a wonderful couple.'

'You think?' Duo was practically purring as his hair was stroked. 'I can never really see that. I mean, they've known each other for years and nothing's ever happened. D'you think Quat would really find Zechs attractive?'

'The problem, I think, is that they have known each other for so long. At some point, I'm sure they'll sort it out. Quatre isn't stupid, Zechs is extremely attractive and they have everything in common.'

'Oh, Zechsy's extremely attractive, is he?' Duo teased, squirming away. 'You, Mr. Khushrenada, are going to have to start remembering you're an engaged man.'

'I do apologise for forgetting to obey a rule I hadn't known about,' Treize intoned solemnly and then caught Duo's hand. 'Sweetheart, you know I didn't mean anything.'

'It's OK. Seriously.' Duo bent and kissed their joined fingers. 'I swear, I'm not remotely jealous. Even if your best friend does look like a Viking prince, and used to be your lover, and once saved your life…I'm not even a little bit jealous.'

'Duo!' He could be hard to take in this mood sometimes. He never lied, but he was a master at half-truths and evasions and the art of misdirection.

'Sorry.' Those huge, violet eyes on his were very direct. 'Just teasing, love. You know I got over that ages ago. And I know damn well you've never looked at another man since you met me. What's got you so twitchy? Still traumatised from visiting Auntie?'

'Perhaps a little,' Treize hedged. The way he was laying, he could feel the little box digging into his hip bone. Such a tiny thing to be causing him all this worry. It wasn't important. Duo had already agreed to marry him; everything else was just symbols and trappings. 'Incidentally, since when have I been Mr. Khushrenada to you?'

'Oh, that.' Duo grinned at him, sitting up and unpacking a bottle of Treize's favourite Cabernet and two glasses. 'Yuy was calling his fiancée Miss Peacecraft. I thought I'd give it a try. D'you like it?'

'Not particularly.' Treize uncorked the bottle and poured for them both. 'I prefer Treize. But, really, I don't care what you call me, so long as you call me yours.'

Duo shot him a sly little smile. 'I could always ask Quat where he got Laragh's collar and have one made for you. With my name on it. I could get a really pretty blue one, to match your eyes.'

'No.'

'No?' Duo pouted, an adorable puckering of his lips. 'You always say that you'll give me anything I want.'

'Well, apparently, there are some limits. And you've just found one.' Treize informed him calmly, sliding one hand into his pocket. 'I do have something for you, though.' The box he handed Duo was covered in dark red velvet, faded with age, stamped with the Khushrenada crest in gold.

The square-cut diamond was massive, surrounded by a myriad of smaller stones that almost hid the thick gold band.

'Oh! That's… amazing. Wow.'

'I thought you had rather better taste than that,' Treize said crisply. 'Personally, I think it's hideous. Of course, if you really like it, you may have it, but I think the one already on your finger suits you better.'

'The one on my –what?' Duo stared up at him dazedly and then looked down at the narrow gleam of gold on his left hand. 'Treize, what is this? How the hell did you do that?'

'You should know; you're the one who taught me all those little tricks in the first place. Do you like it? I wasn't sure if we should pick out something together, but then I saw this and thought of you.'

'I love it.' Duo's eyes darted between Treize's face and the ring on his finger. 'It's perfect. And it fits perfectly. Are the stones sapphires?'

Treize shook his head. He liked it. 'Tanzanite. Your eyes aren't a pure enough blue for sapphires.'

'Shit! It must have cost a …'

'Don't say it,' Treize put one finger to his love's beautiful mouth. 'Please, love. Just say you'll be mine.'

'How come you always get to be the one who says all the sippy-sappy stuff?'

'Well, you do have your moments.' Treize leaned over for a kiss, loving the taste of his favourite wine lingering on his favourite person's tongue. 'But in this instance, I've been yours since we first met. You know that. Say yes. Please.'

'Of course, yes. You know I've been yours as well. There's never been anyone else. I can't believe you pulled that stunt with the diamond, you asshole!'

'I'm sorry.' Treize kissed him again, deeper this time, tasting ripened fruits and summer and desire. 'I simply couldn't resist. And it was what you were expecting, wasn't it?'

'Sort of,' Duo admitted it. 'I know how much you're into your family traditions and stuff.'

'I'm much more into you,' Treize's eyes gleamed. 'We can make our own traditions and I thought you'd like something a little more modern.' He hesitated. 'I know you weren't too keen on having a ring. This one is very light so if you'd rather not wear it on your finger, you could hang it beside your cross.'

He suddenly had Duo wrapped around him, kissing him breathless.

'What was that for?'

'Because I love you more than I know the words to say it so sometimes I just have to show you.' Duo was wearing a faint, delicious flush but he kept going. 'And I love the ring and I want to wear it and, hell, I'd wear the other one if you really wanted me to.'

He slid it onto his right hand and held it up to the sun, admiring the way it caught the light. 'D'you reckon it was bigger before global warming and everything?'

Treize laughed. 'It's yours if you want it.'

'I prefer the one you picked for me. Truly. And like I said, I want you to know just how much you mean to me, and I'm not as good as saying the sappy stuff as you are, so I need to give a practical demonstration.'

'That sounds intriguing,' Treize mused. 'I do foresee a problem or two though. For a start you're wearing rather too many clothes for any demonstration to be truly effective. Perhaps I can help you with that?'

'I wish you would.' Duo sat up, tugging his t-shirt over his head. 'You know, you're kind of overdressed yourself, Mr. Khushrenada.'

'I believe I can remedy both problems, and then we can enjoy this delicious lunch and then demonstrate our mutual affection. Does that sound acceptable?'

'Uh…' His beautiful, perfect love squirmed as Treize lifted his lips slightly, sliding off his jeans. 'I don't suppose we could skip straight to dessert? Please?'

'You did say earlier that patience is a virtue,' Treize teased, nuzzling his mouth softly. 'And it's very important to eat properly. It would be a shame to ignore all this delicious food you've packed.'

'Johanna did most of it. I called home from the gallery and asked her to make us up something light and I think she went a bit overboard with all the caviar and stuff.'

'Not at all. We do have an engagement to celebrate. But since you forgot to pack any crackers we'll have to find some other way to serve it. Let's see, now.' Smiling, he scooped a small amount onto each of his lover's nipples, and bent his head for the first taste. 'Yes, that will do nicely. Would you like some?'

'Only if I get to eat it off you. You have totally corrupted me, you know. It actually seems normal to be eating Beluga caviar on a picnic.'

'And naked.' Treize's tongue flicked around Duo's left nipple. 'I adore the idea of corrupting you. Especially when it's mutual. You do realise that we're breaking all the etiquette rules of how caviar should be served?'

Mouth full, Duo muttered something that sounded like 'don't care', head falling back onto the blanket as Treize feasted on the delicacy and his lover's delicious flesh.

'Tell me, sweeet, how else have I corrupted you?' Treize made his voice into a deep growl. In this adorably – yielding mood, Duo would probably like a little dominance. He did sometimes; even if he'd probably walk through hell rather than admit it.

'This.' It came out as a gasp as Treize tongued the long, jagged scar on his stomach. Oh, yes, this was perfection. His Duo, his lovely, loving Duo, spread before him and yearning to be touched. Begging for it, even, with each toss of that beautiful head, and those fingers in Treize's hair and those low pleas for fulfilment echoing in his ear. 'Treize, please.'

'Not yet, darling.' Treize allowed himself a wicked little grin as he picked up his wine glass and trickled a little on to Duo's skin. 'We have the whole afternoon; no need to rush. And we really should sample some more of this exquisite food.'

 

~ * ~

Chapter 9

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