The hands of the clock had slipped blissfully into mid-afternoon and the wispy, white clouds lounged in the sky in such scarce numbers that the sun's golden rays were able to scatter across the grounds of Ashford Academy, their light seeping through the gaps in between branches of the blossom trees that had been planted earlier in the spring by the student council. It was 3.35pm; five minutes after gym class had started, so Suzaku knew that the most likely place to find Lelouch now would be on the roof of the building, reading something completely un-related to any of his class work. Suzaku Kururugi had been keeping close track of what Lelouch had been up to for the past few months, it was an important part of his mission at Ashford Academy. Ever since Lelouch's mind had been wiped, his memories of Zero, Nunally and everything that he had caused to happen during the rebellion of the Black Knights, were gone and Suzaku had been monitoring his behaviour to be certain that his memories had not returned.

Suzaku paced slowly past the doors of the school library and up the stairs leading up to the roof. He was agile, which made it easy for him to be silent, but still after all the times he had spied on Lelouch lately his heart was racing and a sort of nervous, anxious feeling began to form in the pit of his stomach. He reached the end of the stairs and peered over to where he expected to see straight, black hair buried in a hard-back book, but Lelouch was nowhere to be seen. He darted out onto the roof, turning in a full circle, scanning the area for his the amethyst eyed boy. 'Where could he be?' Suzaku thought to himself, taking his hand and running it through his own mess of hazel hair in confusion. 'He couldn't have actually attended gym class today, could he?' Suzaku flew down the stairs and onto the corridor, 'he could be in his room still,' he thought, 'maybe with Rolo.'

His thoughts were interrupted by a loud crash projecting itself through the wooden doors that lead to the library. 'What was that?' he thought to himself, taking a cautious step backwards.
"Nothing." He heard a monotone voice reply to him through the library doors. Suzaku's eyes widened and he flinched in shock, wondering how whoever was behind the door had replied to the thoughts in his head. He hesitated, but his curiosity pushed him over to the door, forcing his hand down on the handle and flinging it open. He almost sighed in relief when he saw the room was empty, apart from Lelouch who stood in the middle of the room with a huge pile of books scattered across the polished floor. Lelouch had turned to face Suzaku, his eyes were wide with shock and he had a startled look etched into his features. 'I'll have to contact you later, a more urgent matter has come up." Lelouch said in the same monotone voice that he had spoken in only a few seconds before. He took the mobile phone that he had held to his ear and flipped it shut, still staring straight at Suzaku.

"Suzaku," he sighed, "You startled me." Suzaku looked down at the pile of library books scattered around Lelouch's feet.
"What happened?" he asked,
"Oh, this?" Lelouch blushed a little, lowering his face so Suzaku didn't notice. "I wasn't looking where I was going and I backed straight into the Britannian history section, the books went everywhere."
"I can see that," Suzaku smirked, turning Lelouch's pink blush into a more vibrant red colour. Suzaku couldn't help but smile at how adorable it was to watch Lelouch when he felt uncomfortable. Lelouch crouched down and picked up two thick, heavy looking books. He looked up at Suzaku, his lavender eyes softly melting the suspicious nature of the other boy.
"Do… Do you think you could maybe help me pick these books up?" he asked. Suzaku grinned in acceptance and began walking over to the scattered inaccurate history books that lay lifeless on the ground. It made him shudder.

"So," Suzaku began, crouching down to Lelouch's level and helping him stack the lower shelves of the bookcase. "Who were you on the phone to?"
"Oh, it was only Rolo," Lelouch laughed. Suzaku watched as his smile lit up his face in such a playful and innocent manner. He didn't seem at all like the terrorist Zero, but more like the childhood friend that once was the most important person in Suzaku's life. "I think I startled him when I knocked over all the books."
"You're so clumsy," Suzaku told him. Surely just talking to Rolo would be a plausible situation, or maybe just the perfect excuse. As innocent as he seemed, Suzaku had been feeling that Rolo was getting way too attached to Lelouch. Acting as a false younger brother was his mission and up until lately he had been very believable, but it was beginning to seem as if Rolo had developed actual feelings of caring and maybe even love toward his 'big brother' figure.
"I really don't mean to be," Lelouch sighed, reaching for another book. Suzaku reached out for another book too.
"No, no, no!" he cried, "I mean, there's nothing wrong with it, it's cute." Suzaku's hand landed on the warmth of Lelouch's as he attempted to grasp one of the books. It took him a few seconds to realize what had just happened and he snatched his hand back. Lelouch stared at him with a blank expression. This time Suzaku blushed, he could feel the heat flushing through his cheeks and he bowed his head a little, his eyes still fixed on Lelouch.

"So you think I'm cute?" Lelouch smiled, a mischievous grin spreading across his pale face like an unstoppable fire.
"Well, umm… that's not what I…"
Lelouch let out a teasing laugh, "I'm just kidding Suzaku," he smiled, tapping him lightly on the arm before ruffling his hair a little.
"Hey!" Suzaku laughed back at him, reaching over to ruffle his hair back. It was a strange feeling, being so playful with Lelouch like this, with Zero. The man who tried to bring down Britannia, the man who killed Euphie; now just the boy who dropped his school books. Maybe it would always be this way now, maybe Zero was gone and only Lelouch was left. Suzaku liked to think that this was the case, he really liked Lelouch, he liked him a lot.
"Don't ruffle my hair you'll mess it," Lelouch complained,
"You messed mine!" Suzaku giggled,
"Yours is always a mess," Lelouch joked. He laughed, ignoring the books and leaning over to mess his friend's hair again. Suzaku dodged his hand, engaging in the childish play- fight that was erupting between the two boys. It really was like before, so carefree. Suzaku liked Lelouch this way, when his heart was free of evil and anger.

"Watch out!" Lelouch tried to warn him, but it was too late. He placed his hand on one of the books and slipped, his whole body being thrown by some very unforgiving gravity onto his friend. He managed to stop himself with his hands at either side of Lelouch's shoulders. Their faces were close to touching, Suzaku hovered over Lelouch awkwardly. There was a pause as the two of them adjusted to the situation. The two giggled nervously, Lelouch's laugh sounding slightly more forced as he was lying flat on his back, staring up at Suzaku. They giggled again, their eyes meeting and locking in a way that made it almost impossible for the other to look away. Then silence washed over them like a tsunami and Suzaku became aware of his elevated heart rate and his shaking arms. "Are you okay?" Lelouch asked, looking concerned.
"I'm sorry I… I guess I just slipped," he replied, lifting himself up off his friend and onto his knees. He was sitting a lot closer to Lelouch now and he began to feel the tension between them. Their eyes hadn't broken contact yet.
"You're clumsy," Lelouch purred, "It's cute."

"What are you two doing?" the boys shot their heads toward the door where the student council president, Millie Ashford stood with her arms folded leaning against the door frame. Nobody spoke for a while and the tsunami of silence returned, washing thoughts of any replies out of the boy's heads. "Well…" she encouraged.
"I dropped these books," Lelouch told her, his monotone voice had returned. "Suzaku found me and I asked him to help tidy them." Millie looked at the boys suspiciously, raising her left eyebrow.
"Well okay then, but Lelouch I need you to help me with something right away."
"What, right now?" Lelouch whined.
"Yes, Suzaku I'm sorry but you'll have to put those books back yourself." Lelouch looked back at Suzaku, his mocking grin reappeared, but was quickly torn away when he lifted himself to his feet and walked over to Millie who turned and walked out of the room, instructing Lelouch to follow. Suzaku was utterly dazed as he watched Lelouch walk away, leaving him with a lot to clear up. When Lelouch was stood in the doorway, he turned back and caught Suzaku's eye again. The battle between butterflies and bullets raged in his stomach as Lelouch smiled slyly, then left the room.

Thank you for reading, I'd love some feedback to know if anybody would read further chapters of this. I do plan to pair up other characters as well as Lelouch and Suzaku, although I also plan for the story to hold an interesting plot too. Please let me know what you think so far.

Secretive x