Since real life not only kept biting, but in fact tried to throw a writer's block at me, I decided to do something about it. The result is this oneshot. It's fluffy, random and takes place quite some time before Marianne vi Britannia's death. It is also purely gen.

As I partly wrote this because I needed a break, I'd be lying if I said I obsessed too much over the plot - however, I did obsess over the details, and I hope it turned out all right.

Enjoy!

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The rich tapestries decorating the walls were barely visible in the darkness, and something similar was true for all the other exquisite objects located in the vast corridor. The only source of light were a few candles the servants must have lit when the electricity had first bid them farewell; but now everyone was busy trying to get someone to fix the problem, and navigating through the large building was like trying to paint with eyes closed. It was possible if one didn't aim for perfection, but the slightest inattention could easily lead to unpleasant results.

A clap of thunder made the windows rattle, and Clovis thought it was a good thing someone had remembered to close them before abandoning this part of the house. The storm outside seemed to be quite forceful, the wind whipping the rain around as if it intended to kill something with it, and he felt no desire to prove to it that attempting to murder someone with particularly vicious drops of water was a hopeless endeavor.

Clovis resisted the urge to roll his eyes. It was typical that something like this should happen precisely when he spent his first night at Aries' Imperial Villa – the place seemed to enjoy causing him inconveniences and testing his patience. When he had first visited it, he had let himself be lured into a sense of false-security by the idyllic gardens surrounding the building and the awe-inspiring woman that was Marianne vi Britannia - just to discover that one of the cute younger siblings he had been preparing himself to fuss over was not cute at all. Never before had he been tempted to grab a member of his family by the collar and throw them into the duck pond.

And it certainly hadn't gotten better with time. If anything, his little brother was growing more and more annoying with every match he won against him, which, unfortunately, had been every single one so far. Clovis had no idea how someone could get so smug over a game of chess, but it drove him mad – he felt like a masochist for coming back every time just so that the little brat could nurture its ego.

However, he was determined to eventually wipe the floor with Lelouch; at least once.

His goal was not an unreachable one - it wasn't as if he was miles behind in terms of skill. In fact, Clovis was pretty sure he made a decent opponent; decent enough that winning against him never failed to make Lelouch's lips curl in a way that had brought Clovis dangerously close to taking a vase and emptying it over the brat's head more than once.

Now that he thought about it, he had improved a lot since the first time they had played. Back then, he had been rather casual about the whole thing, not expecting to lose against someone so much younger than him, but also not serious enough about the game to have truly minded – if only the boy hadn't been such a smug little brat about it.

Lelouch's attitude fueled his ambition, and it did so very effectively.

At the moment, though, Clovis was more interested in passing time than wiping those smirks off his little brother's face. And so, as they made their way through the dark corridors, he merrily made up one ghost story after the other, and he didn't even care that the boy in front of him gave no indication to be listening.

People had accused Clovis of being in love with his own voice. He had never denied it.

"A hand touched his face and he wanted to scream," he said, in a tone appropriate for the climax of a horror story, "but-" He cut himself off when another roll of thunder threatened to swallow his words, slightly miffed. Just when he was about to get to the best part, and not even at a time where it would have supported the atmosphere!

Clovis was about to look up and sigh at the window they were passing in irritation when he saw it.

He would never have noticed if he hadn't been watching so closely until then, wondering whether his little brother would finally grow annoyed at his constant chattering as he always did. Thinking about it, it had indeed struck him as strange that Lelouch hadn't told him to shut up yet, even if they both knew he never listened.

The boy had been oddly quiet.

Still, Clovis had never expected to see him flinch at something as mundane as a thunderclap. Lelouch might have barely been eight years old, but he didn't seem the type to be afraid of something that, logically, couldn't hurt him.

And yet here he was, jumping at a natural phenomenon.

Clovis smirked. Oh, and his little brother couldn't have picked a better moment to give him this opening.

He let himself fall behind – his younger sibling didn't notice, which was another sign that something was off. Usually, even when Lelouch's mind was on something else, he would stay aware of his surroundings to some extent. For him not to notice that Clovis hadn't reassumed talking must either mean he was incredibly focused on ignoring him, or was an indication that he was extremely distracted by something else. The former would have been amusing, but was unlikely, considering Lelouch hadn't even let him know of his displeasure – his little brother wasn't one to be shy about these things. And so, Clovis concluded that Lelouch was indeed distracted, and considering the circumstances, it appeared far more likely that he was uneasy than musing over the meaning of life or chess strategies.

Clovis went back to a door in the middle of the corridor they had passed no two minutes earlier and silently slipped through. The room behind it was large, but scarcely furnished – even in the near-darkness, crossing it didn't take long.

He quietly exited the chamber on the other side, pressing himself to the wall and waiting for his brother to round the corner.

It was indeed useful, Clovis thought with a self-satisfied smile, to have a disposition for architecture. He might not have been to Aries' Imperial Villa very often yet, no more than sixteen times, but he had painted the gardens and drawn sketches of the villa's insides more than once already. Finding his way around the premises wasn't difficult at all.

After a minute had passed without anything happening, Clovis began to wonder whether Lelouch might have gone looking for him upon noticing his disappearance, and be it just because it would have startled him to turn around and find him gone.

However, it wasn't much later that he heard footsteps, and he held his breath. It seemed he wouldn't have needed to, though; as they grew louder, Clovis noticed that they seemed hurried – not like running, exactly, but close enough. They would easily drown out the sound of shifting clothes.

When his brother stormed past him, Clovis grabbed him from behind, and he immediately regretted pressing his hand to the boy's mouth – judging from his violent reaction, Lelouch would have shrieked like a girl, and Clovis could have been able to rub that into his face the next time his younger sibling felt the need to be an annoying little pest.

Lelouch struggled in his grip as a kitten might struggle upon being lifted into a bathtub, but he certainly lacked the claws – physical activities had never been his little brother's strong point. Only when the boy attempted to actually bite him, Clovis let go.

Lelouch whirled around angrily. "What are you doing?"

"Telling ghost stories gets boring when the only other person present pretends not to listen. I didn't scare you too badly, did I?"

"I wasn't scared."

"Sure you weren't."

"I just don't want you to touch me! Whatever it is that has killed your brain cells might be contagious." The last part was added with a disdainful sniff.

For once, his little brother's lack of etiquette didn't prompt homicidal urges in Clovis. "Oh, so you are shivering from the cold?"

"Yes – so I would appreciate it if you wouldn't loiter about!"

"And here I was worried-" Clovis broke off, widening his eyes and looking past his brother.

Lelouch jumped around so fast he almost stumbled over his own feet, and Clovis burst into laughter. "Oh God, Lelouch, I didn't expect you to be so gullible! Not even Euphie would have fallen for that, and she doesn't even have any reason to assume I would trick her!"

Lelouch turned back to him, glaring. "I was just-"

Clovis didn't even try to reign in his laughter. "And you look as if you'll have a heartattack any second now! Oh God." He put a hand on the wall for support. "This is hilarious."

Lelouch looked as if he wanted to say something to that, but in the end, he simply turned around and continued on his way in a huff.

It didn't take Clovis long to catch up. "Don't worry, I'm sure there are no ghosts around here. After all, they would need to come from somewhere, and it's not like they sealed the constructor of this building into the walls - that practice was abandoned centuries ago. Even unofficially..." He paused. "Say, how old is this building again?" His brother didn't reply, even though Clovis suspected he knew the answer, and he continued, "Oh my, it must have been horrible. Just imagine – total darkness, and unable to move, you slowly feel the air becoming less and less... until you choke. Maybe he tried to scream-"

"Stop it!"

Lelouch was facing him again, and Clovis could see that his hands were balled to fists.

"Are you shaking?" he asked, honestly surprised. He had been aware that his brother was unsettled and that he had even been quivering slightly at one point, but now he seemed ready to jump at his own shadow.

Lelouch didn't answer. Apparently, he had noticed that his discomfort was painfully obvious by now.

Clovis took a step forwards. "This is the first time I've seen you like this," he said, watching his brother closely, curiously. "It can't be the ghost stories, can it? Then again, neither can I believe you are afraid of the dark. The thunderstorm? No, that doesn't really fit, either..." He titled his head. "It can't be... a combination of all three?" He grinned and leaned down to his brother, who was as stubborn as ever, refusing to do so much as break eye contact with him. "That's almost cute! Wait until I tell Cornelia – Euphie is getting competition!"

Lelouch still didn't back down, but Clovis hadn't expected anything less. Highly amused, he poked the boy's cheek – and paused. Carefully pressing his palm to his little brother's forehead, he blinked.

"You..."

Lelouch shoved his hand away. "I'm fine," he declared.

It would have been convincing if not for the evidence suggesting otherwise.

"Are you kidding? It's a wonder I didn't burn my hand!"

"Actually, it isn't. Biologically speaking-"

"It's called a hyperbole, Lelouch!"

"It's called theatrics."

"I can't believe it! Will you continue being a smart-ass down to your last breath?"

"It's not my fault you're a melodramatic idiot."

"You-" Clovis cut himself off and shook his head. From such a small distance, Lelouch looked so miserable that getting seriously angry at him was no more possible than getting angry at that big-eyed puppy Euphie kept – even Cornelia barely managed a stern look at it. "Let's go on, shall we?" he suggested instead. "I didn't plan on spending the night in a hallway."

"Finally," Lelouch said.

Clovis reminded himself that hitting him now would be extremely bad manners.

x x x

"Here, drink this."

Lelouch was sitting upright in the middle of the mattress, bestowing an annoyed look upon him. "I'm not thirsty."

"Drink," Clovis repeated and pushed the glass back into his little brother's hands.

"What are you even doing here?"

"Making sure you don't dehydrate yourself. Now be good and do what your older brother tells you."

"I don't need-" Lelouch began, but didn't finish. Wincing, he put a hand to his temples. The irritation faded from his features as quickly as water might flee a washbasin whose plug has been pulled, and suddenly, he just looked drained and horribly tired.

Taking pity on him, Clovis didn't say anything more, simply waiting for his little brother's common sense to take over. Lelouch was many things, but stupid certainly wasn't one of them – extremely proud, yes, and stubborn to the point where it didn't necessarily benefit his health, but not stupid. He wouldn't risk prolonging a highly unpleasant illness over something so trivial.

And indeed, after staring blankly at the glass for several seconds, Lelouch finally lifted it to his lips and emptied it in one drought before wordlessly handing it back to him.

Following an impulse he couldn't explain, Clovis brushed a strand of hair from the boy's forehead. "Now sleep."

Lelouch pushed his hand away, but the action seemed rather half-hearted, and he lay down without making a retort first, silently wrapping the covers around himself and refusing to acknowledge his presence any further.

Clovis thought it was quite pitiful.

He started making his way over to the door, but when he gazed over his shoulder while debating whether it was really all right to leave Lelouch by himself, he saw his brother flinch at yet another thunderclap and paused. A quick glance at the window told him that the storm wouldn't settle down any time soon.

There was also still no electricity, and Lelouch obviously wasn't feeling very well - it was strange, seeing him this vulnerable.

Do you want me to stay? The words lay at the tip of Clovis' tongue, but he knew what kind of answer he would receive if he spoke them out loud.

So he didn't, and sat down on the edge of the bed without comment.

Lelouch peered at him without lifting his head. "What is it?"

Clovis shrugged his shoulders languidly. "Your mother will not be happy if you get any worse than this. I'm just making sure I will live to see another sunrise... after the one tomorrow, that is."

Lelouch continued to stare at him in silence for several heartbeats – then he simply turned away. He didn't seem overly happy with the situation and clearly had no intention of pretending otherwise, but it said a lot that he didn't even argue.

Clovis didn't know how long he sat there and listened to Lelouch's disturbingly shallow breathing before he finally gave in to the temptation and reached out to stroke the boy's head. He almost expected him to open his eyes and glare at him, and was surprised when instead, his little brother leaned into the touch and snuggled closer ever so slightly.

With a smile, he thought that Lelouch would die of shame if he ever found out about this unconscious moment of weakness. It would be terribly amusing to tell him the next time he got ahead of himself and watch his reaction.

But...

Clovis gently ran his hand through the raven locks and felt his smile turn from sly to fond.

He didn't think he would.