cozzybob (cozzybob) wrote in cozzybabbles, @ 2007-08-13 06:28:00 |
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Entry tags: | 6x9, bod, gen, noin, zechs |
[GW] Losing Gracefully
Losing Gracefully
by cozzybob
Rated: G
Pair: Zechs-and-Noin-ness
Warning: minor series spoilers, post-EW, fluffy sappy angst
Note: Written for the Beat_of_Destiny community on LJ, theme "success" for the character Zechs Merquise. Old crap.
Summary: Noin always lets him win at everything, and Zechs finally musters the courage to ask her why.
The day he graduated from Victoria, Noin kissed him soundly on the lips and told him that she didn't regret falling in second for him. He thought that perhaps he did, but she did not, and he wondered why. Why would anyone accept less than who they are?
It bothered him, that Noin fell back for him. It bothered him for a lot of years. He was a man who preferred to earn his way into life--he'd been born into wealth to have it taken away from him, and he knew exactly how important it was to win such things for yourself... to cheat was to die, where he came from. To be second and still first was wrong. He didn't earn that.
And still, when she kissed him that day on the stage right before the other graduates, he kissed her back. She had laughed and told him that she loved him and then he had said that he loved her too, but it wasn't until years later, after the war, after the gundams, and after Mariemaia, that Zechs considered it again. He and Noin were on shuttle for Mars playing chess, and it was his move. Noin had just received the chance take his king and she didn't, vying to steal his queen instead. He knew she had seen the checkmate because Noin was a brilliant chess player and such moves did not escape her, but for him, for Zechs, they always did. She made a habit of letting him win.
Memories burning inside of him, he stared at her for a very long time, and she stared back with a secret smile, as if she knew exactly what he was thinking--which was amusing because he did not know what to think very much at all. When he finally asked, "Why?" as if it could sum up everything he had ever wanted to know, Noin shrugged.
"If I didn't let you win," she told him, "...you never would." He lifted an eyebrow at her, and like all those years ago on the day he graduated from Victoria, she laughed and leaned over to kiss him. "Some people make better losers, Zechs."
He glanced back down at the chessboard and noticed that it was almost check again. When she'd moved her rook, it left her king exposed, and he could destroy her easily. She had planned it that way. Losing gracefully...
He laid down his king and shook his head. "Yes. Some people do."