The Color of Thy Heart

The Color of Thy Heart
by Sultrysiren
Author\'s notes: In this story line, Zechs never went off to do the terra reformation project, or whatever the hell it was. He stayed and is a Preventer now.

Zechs let himself into the apartment he shared with Une with a sigh. It was only a few months after the Eve wars, and he was still expecting some yahoo with plans for world domination to pop up and ruin everything he and the Preventers had worked so hard for. Protecting the peace was a hard thing indeed.
Zechs popped open a beer and plopped down on the couch, glad that Une wasn\'t home yet. They had gotten together when Treize had died, each trying to lessen the impact of his death. Both had been his lover at poi point, and both had loved him with mind, body and soul. They didn\'t love each other, that wasn\'t why they were together. They were together to comfort one another, to try and bring a little light into each other\'s dismal lives.
Zechs was done with his beer before he knew it. \"I really should eat something if I\'m going to drink,\" he muttered as he got up for another one. Zechs preferred wine, red wine, but it was too painful to drink, and it was too painful to Une to watch him drink it. So he settled for beer.
This time Zechs settled into a kitchen chair. He hadn\'t bothered to turn the lights on in the kitchen, relying on the light from the living room to illuminate the space he was in. Plus, this way, he was closer to the fridge, and thus the beer.
Zechs kicked back another, and another, not caring that he was well on his way to being drunk, if not there already. It had been a rough day, and he had earned the right to drink some, or so he reasoned.
Zechs didn\'t hear the front door open and close, nor did he hear the soft, feminine footsteps coming into the kitchen. It wasn\'t until the overhead light blazed into existence that he realized that Une was home.
\"Zechs?\"
Zechs looked up at Une, head swimming, unable to form a coherent thought. \"It\'s you,\" he finally managed to slur out. \"When\'d you get here?\"
Une took the bottle from him. \"A minute ago. You weren\'t in the living room, or the bedroom, so I checked here.\" She shook her head and began to collect the empty bottles. \"How much have you had to drink?\"
Zechs shrugged. \"Don\' know, wasn\'t counting.\" He swayed in his seat, clutching the back so he wouldn\'t fall off.
Une put the bottles in the sink and walked back over to him. \"Let me helu inu into bed.\" She looped an arm under his, helping the drunken Zechs to his feet. Zechs swayed, but stayed upright. Slowly, the two of the made their way to the bedroom.
Zechs collapsed onto the bed, groaning. Une slid his boots off, thought about helping him out of the rest of his clothing, and decided not to. He was too tall and too heavy to do much about the rest of the clothes. Not to mention too drunk.
Unen unn undressed herself, slipping into some old clothing to sleep in. She grabbed the pillow from her side of the bed and was about to make herself comfortable on the couch when Zechs grabbed her hand.
\"Don\'t leave me.\"
Une looked at him, surprised. Took ook in his eyes was too raw, too needy, for her to say no. So she put the pillow back down and lay beside him, on her side.
Zechs managed to roll over and wrap one arm around her waist, spooning her. Une rested her arm on top of his.
\"I\'m sorry,\" Zechs slurred.
\"For what?\"
\"For everything.\"
Une was silent a moment. \"You didn\'t do anything, Zechs.\"
\"If it hadn\'t been for me, siding with White Fang, he never would have died.\"
Une sighed, her chest tight. She rolled over to face Zechs. \"Zechs, you were only doing what you thought right. It\'s not your fault.\"
He slouched down in the bed and pillowed his head on her chest. \"I\'m still sorry. I fucked up both our lives.\"
Une let go of Zechs, reaching down to hold his head between her hands. \"Zechs, I won\'t lie to you and say it doesn\'t hurt. I won\'t lie and say I don\'t care. But I\'m with you, Zechs, and I wouldn\'t trade that for anything else.\" She kissed his forehead, then his lips. \"I care about you, Zechs. A lot.\"
Zechs\' hands came up to cup hers. He stared into her eyes, all the while thinking about what she had said. \"You mean that?\"
She kissed him again. \"Yes, I do. Now go to sleep.\"
\"You\'ll be here in the morning?\"
She nodded. \"I will. For as long as you\'ll have me, I\'ll be here every day.\" She wrapped her arms around him, resting her head on his chest. Zechs\' arms came up to hold her as well, wrapping around her back, holding her close.

Zechs was dreaming, that much he knew. He was a shadow, watching, as Treize and Une coupled, their bodies grinding against one another\'s, their moans that they tried to keep silent filling the air. The air itself was perfumed with their lovemaking, musky and tangy, slightly bitter. He wanted to protest, he wanted to break them up, saying that Une was his now, that Treize was dead, a ghost as he seemed to be. but he couldn\'t. Zechs knew that he couldn\'t stop them, that he couldn\'t claim Une as his.
Une threw her head back and cried out as he orgasm hit, making her lithe frame shudder in pleasure. Treize came a second after she did, thrusting into her body one last time. She collapsed against him, curling up on his chest as they fought to regain their breath. Zechs wanted to be jealous, and in a way he was, but he knew it was a dream, that Une hadn\'t left him to be with her, their, old lover.
He awoke with a start, his arms still around Une. the alcohol had worn off, but he had no hangover as of yet. Gently, he leaned down and kissed her lips, soft and slack with sleep. He smiled down at her and kissed her again before moving lower.
Slowly, Zechs kissed along her jaw, to her throat. He bit her, gently. Une stirred in her sleep, moaning. Zechs bit her again, harder.
He had worked his way down to her collarbone before she woke up. Une\'s hands went to his head, twining her fingers in his hair.
Zechs looked up, a devious smile on his lips. \"Well, seeing as how neither of us work in the morning...\"
Une pulled him up to her, kissing him as if she were a drowning woman and he her first breath of air. \"Yes,\" She murmured against his lips when she finally pulled away. \"Yes.\"
Zechs grinned at her and attacked her lips with renewed passion, his hands wandering under the thing shirt she wore to pinch her nipples. Une arched into that touch, crying out against his lips.
He pulled away again to lift her shirt up over her body. Slowly, almost painfully slowly, he kissed his way down her chest and abdomen, to draw even with her sex.
Zechs rolled them over until he was on top, then dipped his tongue in, teasing her. Une bucked into his mouth, demanding more, but Zechs pushed her hips back down with one hand. With the other, he slid two fingers into her tight canal.
Une was out of her mind with pleasure. Just when she had reach the peak, though, Zechs pulled away. Silencing her groan oftesttest, he crawled back up her body.
Une wrapped her legs around him, urging him on, but he put one finger to her lips. \"Did you mean it when you said you cared about me?\"
Flushed with pleasure, Une nodded. Zechs smile her her. \"Good. I care about you too, you know.\" And with that, he thrust, sheathing himself inside her.
Une cried out and raised her hips to meet his. Zechs started to pound into her, as if he were driving her through the mattress. Une met him tt fot for thrust, stifling her moans as best she could.
One minute Une was riding that wave of pleasure, then it crested, washing over her in a golden wave of heat.
Zechs slowed down his pace, kissing Une\'s cheek. When she finally opened her eyes again, to smile up at him, he starting to thrust back into her, slower this time.
Zechs took his time this time, going slowly. Une urged him on, drawing him into her as she raised her hips to his. Unable to withstanymorymore, Zechs sped up. Soon he was pounding into her as hard and fast as he could, making the headboard slam against the wall. Neither of them cared, too far gone in their pleasure to really notice.
Une tightened around him, her spine bowing as she came again. Once she clamped down on him, Zechs came as well, crying out her name. Une dug her nails into his shoulders. hard enough to draw blood, as she called his name as well.
Zechs, spent, collapsed on top of Une. Une relaxed the viselike grip her thighs had on him, but she twined her legs around his, running her foot up and down his leg.
\"Stop, you\'re turning me on again.\"
Une laughed, deep and throaty. \"Is that a bad thing?\"
Zechs raised up enough to kiss Une. \"In the morning, that\'s different. Right now, I\'m too spent to do anything more.\"
Une smiled at him, stopstopped. \"Feel any better?\"
Zechs slid to one side, wrapping her in his arms. \"Much better.\" He kissed her on the forehead. \"I love you,\" he whispered, laying his head down.
Une snuggled up to him as well. \"I love you too.\"