My Mum Ate My Homework
Lelouch was pissed off.
Not that that was particularly unusual for him, being the arrogant prince that he was, but this time there was actually something to cause his anger. The people around him were very surprised—and quite pleased—to see that he'd matured enough to have reasons for his feelings rather than just feeling them and wondering why.
The ten year old was sitting on the school bus fuming. The seat next to him was empty, his sister Nunnally having long since vacated it in favour of the less deadly-looking seat next to Euphy. One could almost see the black waves of evil rolling off him and poisoning the air. No one dared step near him for fear of instigating his wrath.
That day at school, his class was supposed to be submitting their work for a Food Tech assignment they had. Slight problem: his mother had been too tired and hungry to go find her own breakfast that morning so she had immediately eaten the chocolate-coated cupcakes sitting on the kitchen table.
Those cupcakes had been of the utmost importance, right up until the moment they were lost down Lady Marianne's gullet. He had spent hours fine-tuning his skills in the kitchen, just for these small cakes, and then it was all ruined by a simple instance of a hungry mother.
Lelouch had awoken to find his homework gone, with only a few crumbs in its place. Now what could he say to his teacher? "Sorry, my mum ate my homework"? Would that even work?
Unable to come up with a better solution and knowing lying would get him into trouble, he figured it was worth a try. That day, he was a bundle of nerves, hardly paying attention in most of his classes, but the teacher and other students were all too terrified of the almighty lord to scold him for it.
He was creative in his art class, though, imagining himself to be a literal bundle of nerves with a cat slowly unwinding him as if he was a ball of wool. Soon, there would be nothing left.
Luckily, his brother Clovis rescued him from the imaginary giant cat by the power of his imaginary giant sword. Clovis imagined slaying the beast to please his upset brother, then he and Lelouch had a thumb war, before class ended and Lelouch became lost in his worry once more.
Euphemia seemed to miss the memo that informed everyone of Lulu's bad temper, though; she asked him what was wrong when they were sitting in the courtyard of the school, eating lunch together as was their custom.
After opening his mouth to yell at her, the words stuck in his throat when he saw her sweet, innocent, and caring face. He couldn't say mean things to her—the cuteness was too much!
Twiddling his thumbs, he muttered a made-up story about his time of the month, something he'd learned from his sister Cornelia, who for some reason had been laughing uncontrollably as she'd told him about this super secret method of getting people off your back when they were wondering why you were troubled.
Young Euphy nodded solemnly, having also learned this technique from Cornelia, albeit without the laughter and instead with a promise from her to learn the reason for it in the future.
Later that day, Lelouch had Food Tech class. He walked in, his head held high, prepared to explain to his teacher the very good reason he had for his assignment being incomplete.
The teacher called out all the names on the roll and asked each student to place their work on the bench next to her.
Some cakes were green, others pink. It seemed to Lelouch like each child had simply picked their favourite colour and decorated their cake as such. A few also had edible butterflies, which were quite the popular delicacy in Britannia at that time—probably due to a student trying to show off their family's power and wealth in being able to afford them.
None of the cupcakes were as beautiful as Lelouch's had been, though. That cheered him up greatly.
His had been almost glowing with the slick brown chocolate icing covering the top neatly, with small silver sprinkles strewn in an apparently haphazard way but actually created the shape of a spiral if you looked at them closely enough. They were also perfectly cooked, the chocolate in the centre melted to perfection.
Of course, Lady Marianne hadn't looked closely at all, seeing them and eating them with the gap in between being only long enough to draw in breath. Lelouch doubted that she'd even taken time to appreciate the fine details such as the hint of vanilla and the soft core of each cupcake.
Simply put, they had looked mouth-watering. But their attractiveness had been their downfall, disappearing into the stomach of a person with no comprehension for the effort it took to create them.
Lelouch wondered if maybe he should have put his efforts into athletic ability instead. He really could do with some muscle development and physical endurance. He knew he'd pay for it later.
When Lelouch's name was called, he hopped off of his chair, pushed it back into the bench so no one would trip, and walked calmly up to his teacher, speaking clearly and politely as he was taught in the private speaking lessons his family had been subjected to. He was concise and went straight to the point.
"My mum ate my homework."
There was silence in the room. Half the students didn't seem sure of whether they should laugh or not. It was probably fear of retribution from the famously terrifying Lelouch that kept them silent. The other half either didn't know or didn't care, and so started laughing anyway.
Lelouch's face went red with embarrassment. He regretted saying it so loudly, as if he was proud that his only good parent had eaten his homework. He had spent the day working up to that moment but he'd failed miserably when it came time to deliver the line.
What was I thinking? Of course it wouldn't work! Such a stupid idea! Telling the truth is overrated.
These were not good thoughts for a young and impressionable boy to have. They could shape his whole future, leading him to think lying is the only way to solve anything.
As he hung his head, silently berating himself, the teacher told the students to be quiet, and then marked Lelouch's work off the roll, an understanding smile on her face.
"I'll be having a word to Lady Marianne, then," she said, sighing in obvious displeasure at the famous Knight's treatment of her children.
Lelouch looked up, eyes wide, hardly daring to believe his ears.
"You'd think such a smart woman would've learned her lesson after the incident with Nunnally's homework last week."
A/N: I'll admit, I laugh at my own wit sometimes. Ah, who am I kidding? I laugh at my own wit all the time!! XD