AN: Happy New Year! This is officially my first fic of 2012 and only my second time writing for the Code Geass fandom so constructive criticism is always appreciated. It takes place sometime in R1 before the Special Zone of Nippon comes into play, and Euphemia and Suzaku are still getting to know each other.
Disclaimer: I don't own Code Geass. Spoiler Alert.
"Wasn't that so much fun, Suzaku?" Euphemia said as she took off the long white gloves that adorned her slender hands. She smiled at him, looking simply radiant with her pale skin flushed due to the night's activities and her blue eyes sparkling with happiness.
"Errm, yes Princess Euphemia," Suzaku replied. Truthfully his first royal ball wasn't that amusing for him, since it mostly just involved him replying to questions asked by stuffy nobles and making sure he didn't use the wrong fork at dinner. The one thing that made the night enjoyable was watching Euphemia. His princess was as natural in court as he felt in the Lancelot. She could strike up personal conversations with any guests at the dinner table and make them feel instantly welcome. And when she danced she was a graceful as a butterfly, moving with light, delicate steps that reminded him of the geisha's of Japan. Suzaku felt his cheeks grow hot. She really was a wonderful dancer. He wished that he could have had a chance to…
No. A knight must not think that way about his princess.
Suzuka cleared his throat. "Princess Euphemia -"
"Euphie," Euphemia corrected, her hands making quick work of the pins that held her hair in its ornate bun. Suzaku watched, entranced, as she placed the last of the pins on her bedside table and shook out her long wavy tresses. The low lighting in the princess's room reflected off her pink hair, making it glimmer like a flame.
"Euphie," he said once again. "It's late, and I should be getting back to the base. I have a lot of homework to catch up on."
Euphemia sat on her bed and stuck her bottom lip. "But it's Friday," she pouted.
Was it really? He had been so busy lately that it was getting hard to keep track of what day it was. "Oh, I hadn't noticed," he murmured.
Euphemia sensed her opportunity and sprang from the bed, marching toward Suzaku as purposefully as a soldier. "Exactly. You've been working so hard lately, and you deserve a break! So I hereby order you as Euphemia vi Britannia to stay here and have a bit of fun with me!" She hooked her arm in through his and met his gaze shyly. "That is, unless there's someone else you would rather be spending your free time with," she challenged.
There was a hint something in her voice that Suzaku couldn't ever recall hearing before. Flirtation, perhaps? But no, the princess would never be flirting with him. He was a knight; even worse an eleven. Heck, he wasn't even fit to escort her to the ball tonight. Instead Euphemia had spent the evening with some nameless noble that he could only assume her father was hoping to betroth her to while he was forced to watch over her from the shadows, wishing that he could be the one she was dancing with instead.
"There's no one I'd rather be with than you," he answered truthfully.
She flashed him a brilliant smile. "Good. Then stay with me." She dragged him toward the middle of the room and sat down on the floor, crossing her legs like a small child at story time. Suzaku mimicked her posture and sat across from her.
Euphemia had taken off her layers of petty-coats and stripped down to the shift beneath, a thin silken garment that left little to the imagination. The dress fell only to her mid thigh, giving him a view of the long graceful legs usually hidden by long gowns and clung to the soft curves of her hips and breasts. Suzaku forced himself to avert his gaze. He knew that Euphemia was so innocent that she had no idea how truly beautiful she was, and wasn't aware of the affect she had on men.
His cheeks burned. And she definitely wasn't aware of the effect she had on him.
Euphemia clapped her hands together excitedly. "I know! Let's play a sleep-over game, like Cornelia and I used to play when we were young."
Suzaku laughed. She was just like a child. "Ok, what game do you want to play?"
Euphemia lifted a hand to her chin to think. "Hhm, let's play Never Have I Ever!"
He let out a surprised snort. "Isn't that game supposed to be played with alcohol?"
She blushed. "It is, but we didn't know that. We just knew that it was a grown up game, and playing made us feel older."
He nodded. It sounded a lot like his childhood friendship with Lelouch (though it was hard to imagine Princess Cornelia as anything but a battle-hardened soldier.)
"How do you play again?" Suzaku asked slightly embarrassed. Hopefully Euphemia wouldn't think he was too boring. Spending a childhood in the army tended to leave you a little behind when it came to pop-culture.
"Oh, it's really simple," Euphemia said quickly. She held hands up for Suzaku to see and curled both of them into fists. "Each of us takes turns saying things that they've never done before, and if the other person has done it they put up a finger," she said, pointing her figure upward to demonstrate. "The first one to ten fingers loses!"
Suzaku frowned. He had never really liked to share much about his personal life. After he had killed his father it was like he was never able to get close to anyone ever again, so the only people that really knew him were Lelouch and Nunally. And now Euphemia was trying to get to know him too…
She seemed to understand his hesitation. "Here, I'll go first to demonstrate. Never have I ever spent a night at a hotel."
Euphemia gasped in surprise when he didn't raise a finger either. "Never?" she questioned.
"Well, in the army I didn't really get any time to travel for leisure. And when I traveled for work I just stayed in the company's base."
Euphemia pursed her lips in mock irritation. "Hhm, I guess you're going to be a bigger challenge than I thought, Suzaku. I'll have to try harder next time."
"Bring it on," Suzaku taunted childishly. He couldn't help it; her enthusiasm was contagious, and when he was with her he felt so free somehow, almost like he was flying.
"Your turn," she reminded him gently.
"Never have I ever…worn a dress!"
"Suzaku, that's cheating!" she cried in outrage. "The whole point of the game is to get to know the other person better; not get them out quickly by saying things that they know aren't true!"
Suzaku forced himself to stifle back a chuckle. It was just so Euphie. Anything she did had to be done the right way; the pure way.
"Ok, ok I'm sorry. How about this one: never have I ever...gotten an A in English class."
Euphemia's nod of approval quickly turned to lament. "But how? The language is so beautiful! It's like poetry for the soul!"
"I've never even gotten a B," he admitted sheepishly.
"Suzaku-kun! Well, beginning next week I'll start giving you private lessons myself."
"Euphemia, you don't have to do that for me," he protested. "I'm just a, a.."
"A knight?" she finished for him. "You're not just a knight you're my knight, but more importantly you're my friend. So don't say that I don't have to do nice things for you. I don't have to; I want to."
She met his eyes after her heartfelt speech and began to blush. "And any knight of mine has to be able to speak English!" she added quickly. "That's an order so don't even try to get out of it."
He smirked. "Now you're sounding like Cornelia," he teased gently.
"Then I order you to take a turn," Eupehmia growled, lowering her voice a few octaves in order to imitate her sister's gruff tones.
"Yes, your highness," he saluted. "Never have I ever gotten a hang over." The knight was shocked to see the ever-so-innocent princess put up another finger.
"It was awful!" she protested. "Clovis took me to a party once with his friends and I ended up drinking a little too much. The next day I thought my head was going to explode! So I promised myself I would never drink again."
"Well maybe you should just wait until you get a little older. Your turn."
"Never have I ever learned to cook!"
Suzaku put up his ring finger and raised his eyebrow appraisingly. "You mean you don't know how to cook formally or you don't know how to cook anything?"
"Well once I did try to make scrambled eggs when I was a student," she admitted, sticking her tongue out in distaste. "They turned black and crunchy. That's not supposed to happen right?"
"You probably burned them," he said, trying to suppress his smile. "Next time don't cook them as long. Hhm never have I ever met a cat that liked me."
"Arthur does like you!" she protested. "He just has a rather different way of showing it, that's all. "
"By biting me?"
"Maybe it's a form of affection."
" An affection that I could do without," he muttered. "Your turn."
"Never have I ever felt like my family was totally complete," the princess said solemnly. "Or at least, not for a very long time."
Suzaku's heart twisted inside when he realized Euphemia was talking about Lelouch and Nunally, the missing siblings that she presumed were dead. He had sworn to Lelouch to never reveal their secret, but at that moment he really wished that he could, if only to free the princess from her suffering.
Euphemia's eyes widened when she saw that Suzaku hadn't raised a finger. "Why?" she questioned.
"Never have I ever known my mother," he said, lowering his eyes. It wasn't something he had told very many people, and admitting it to her made him feel uncomfortable.
Euphemia placed her hand on top of his and stroked it softly with her thumb. "Suzaku, I'm so sorry."
"She died giving birth to me," he explained. "My father never liked to talk about her much. He never even told me what she looked like."
Euphemia raised her pinky finger. "My mother died when I was six; so I did get to know her, just not for very long. Sometimes I wish I could have spent those six years with her now, as a woman, so I could have learned more about her."
She paused for a moment before remembering that it was her turn. "Never have I ever ridden a bicycle."
"Pssh, and you say I never had a childhood. Never have I ever been skinny-dipping!"
Euphemia stared him down with unblinking blue eyes, making Suzaku immediately regret his words.
"Do you want to?"