author's note: hi hi hi "happy" sixth. i only realized it was the anniversary of the zero requiem this morning, and well, have some c.c. x lelouch romantic fluff to lighten your mood. sorry for the unquality :,D tbqh, i tried really really really hard to finish a zero requiem piece i'd started a while ago, given the day, but i just couldn't finish it properly. i still wanted to do something, though, so i touched up these mini drabbles that have been sitting in my documents forever. since i don't really intend to expand on any of them, i thought i might as well compile and publish. a lot of it is dialogue orz sorry. but um consider them set in some plain real life au or some other au where these interactions would be plausible lol. some of them were somewhat inspired by prompts and artwork and such, but they're so short and whatnot that i don't remember which prompts, etc. uh yeah. also the only reason this is rated M is because of one scene/drabble in particular that was inspired by creayus's work. if you're a creayus fangirl, you'll probably know which one it is lol. sorry if it's awk, i'm not very proficient at mature content. otherwise these drabbles are squeaky clean fluff. maybe a bit ooc fluff, but um, enjoy anyways!
"Grope me."
"What."
"I said, 'grope me.'"
"No."
"Don't be half-assed, Lelouch. If you want to make it convincing, do it."
"No, that's not my character. It'd just raise more suspicions."
"Oh, wonderful. My contractor's a child." C.C. rolled her eyes. "Come here."
She wrapped her hand around his tie and yanked hard, hard enough to pull Lelouch off his (light) weight as she crushed her lips against his.
"Grope me," she repeated as he fumbled to kiss her back. His hands wavered and twitched on her body, unsure where to settle before finally stopping at the small of her back.
"Ugh," she hissed, voice dripping with disgust, "That's the opposite of groping. Don't tell me you're still a virgin."
"Shut up."
It seemed she'd have to do all the work. She wrapped her legs around his waist and pulled him that much closer til the only space separating them was the thin fabric of their clothes.
"Open your mouth," she breathed, her teeth tugging on his lower lip.
"I—"
In the breath that it took for him to form the syllable, she'd forced her tongue through, and she was quite certain he nearly choked. The moment passed, though, and she could feel him grow pliant. In a few seconds, their position almost began feeling natural.
"Lelouch." She broke away, and he leaned forward expectantly only to be stopped by an index finger to his lips.
"What."
"They're gone."
"Oh." His eyes widened, and he straightened immediately. "Right."
"Did you want to keep going?"
Her teasing was met with little more than a glare.
C.C. traced her bottom lip with her little finger and a thoughtful smirk.
"That was disgusting. What kind of pizza did you eat, exactly?" He was trying to change the subject, but she wouldn't let him. She couldn't be that easily dissuaded.
"That's disappointing, boya." She paused, ignoring his previous question entirely as she leaned forward and cupped her chin in her hands.
"So." Another pause, this one longer than the last as if to place special emphasis on what she was going to say next. "You can only kiss well under pressure."
"Drop it."
"Let me guess, where kissing is concerned, you tend to be on the receiving end. I could tell."
"I said, drop it."
x x x
C.C. hopped off her seat and disappeared into the adjacent dining room. Before Lelouch could finish pouring the water, she'd brought the pizza box back into the kitchen. Her arms encircled it protectively as she nudged the lid open. There were only a few slices left. The maudlin way she looked at them almost made Lelouch laugh, but he knew better than to laugh at C.C. and her pizza.
Her hand reached for the nearest slice, and a thought occurred to her. She lifted her head. "Lelouch."
Lelouch returned the lid to the teapot and glanced over his shoulder. "What is it?"
"Have you eaten yet?"
He shook his head. At the thought of food, he became acutely aware of the emptiness in his stomach. His body hadn't yet adjusted to skipping meals, but it couldn't be helped. He didn't have the time.
"You may have one. Just one, though."
The surprise showed on his face. Given her obsession with pizza, this was C.C. being generous. He looked at the remaining slices skeptically as though he didn't believe she was really offering them to him, but then she nodded her head, and he sighed.
He reached for the smallest piece, not because he wasn't starving but because unlike C.C., he was quite health conscious. He chewed on the crust thoughtfully, and she turned the box away, satisfied.
x x x
Lelouch could feel where the towel ended and her skin began. "You're getting water on my computer."
x x x
"Oh? What's this?"
C.C. fingered the sheer blouse Lelouch had dropped in her lap.
"I was shopping with Shirley and thought of you."
"How romantic," C.C. cooed, "Shopping for undergarments with someone besides your girlfriend."
"Drop it. I just happened to be available, and she needed a ride."
"You don't even know my size or the styles I like."
"You look the same proportions as Shirley. Am I wrong? And what, you don't like it?"
"It'll fit, and well, I suppose I'll wear it if it makes you happy. One of the greatest joys for a man is having a woman wear the clothes he buys for her, right?"
She held the black crop top up and modeled it for Lelouch. "Is this your way of telling me I should show more skin?"
x x x
He didn't know how long they stayed like that. Maybe just a few seconds, maybe a minute, and then she pulled away, taking her warmth with her.
x x x
"Good night, Lelouch."
She uncrossed her legs and stood from her seat. He could smell her shampoo even from this distance. It was tart. Go figure that she'd pick a food scent of all things, but the real surprise was that she hadn't picked a pizza one.
He watched her go, but not willingly, with a frown on his brow and a hand lightly curled at his side. He hated when she played difficult.
"What are you doing," she'd asked when he followed her into the elevator, boxing her in with one arm on either side as the door slid closed. Neither pressed a button. Neither was in the position to. "Well, this is unexpected."
Lelouch remained silent and his expression unchanged. He wasn't going to be the one to admit it first. Not by a long shot. Luckily, C.C. wasn't going to demand so much of him. Just this was enough, just this was tantamount to admitting defeat, and she knew that her dark-haired associate knew it too.
"I thought about you as well," she grinned, fingers coiling in his tie and lips ghosting across his with the promise of more if only he...?
"You can follow me home if you like. I can't promise anything though."
Lelouch sighed and backed off, knocking a finger against the elevator panel. The lift jerked, and they separated. "Honestly, why do you have to come on with all that attitude?"
"How long have you known me?" C.C. leaned back on her heels and smirked.
x x x
"So, she still loves you even when you're with someone else."
"You're wrong. She's just being a good friend."
"Are you dense, boya? You can still say that after she practically confessed to you?"
Lelouch stiffened. "How did you—?"
"Ah, so you aren't as dense as you seem."
x x x
"Zip me," C.C. said.
"Hm?" Lelouch threw a glance over his shoulder as his left hand worked to secure the cuff links on his wrist.
"Zip me," C.C. repeated, staring back at him through the mirror as she plucked the gold butterfly pin off the bedside table. "Isn't this going a little overboard?"
"Aren't you always complaining you have nothing to wear?"
C.C. raised an eyebrow, amused. He always knew how to twist words to his advantage, but he couldn't dodge her questions that easily. Her bright eyes followed his movements. He pulled a gaudy red tie from a hook on the wall that matched the deep crimson of her dress perfectly.
She almost made a snarky comment about his metrosexual tendencies, but she held her tongue and refocused on the fingers tangled in her hair instead. She looped the pin into the side of her green locks. The red beads hanging off of it swayed gently beside her ear with every turn of the head. It was a pretty confection. She hadn't asked if it was real gold, but judging by the sheen—
"We're going to be the most overdressed couple at your father's party."
Lelouch scoffed. "Haven't you been to one before? They're black tie events, and my father will be the one in the most ridiculous get-up, rest assured."
He finally came up behind her then and paused. She couldn't quite describe the look in his eyes. She saw it often nowadays, sometimes when they were alone and sometimes when he thought she wasn't looking. It was curious because no one had ever really looked at her like that before. All of the men she'd ever met always had the same handful of emotions to offer her, the same handful of gazes as they looked upon her. They were lonely or cocky. Some wanted companionship; some wanted her to stroke their egos, and to some degree, she supposed Lelouch fit all of those descriptors. At the same time, he was full of surprises like right now when the expression on his face almost made the breath hitch in her throat. Before she could say anything, though, she felt fingers sweep through the ends of her hair.
"You look lovely."
It was an objective comment, nothing to have one's heartbeat quicken over, but C.C.'s did ever so slightly, and she laughed at herself. He'd said it as though he were appraising an item at auction, and she still let it get to her?
"What?" Lelouch asked, taking a step back, annoyed. He couldn't even try complimenting her without a sarcastic snicker in return, could he?
The spell broke, and C.C. felt herself relax.
"I wasn't laughing at you," she said, the grin still clinging to her lips, "Hurry up and zip me."
There was a pause. "Lift your hair."
She complied, pulling it to one side as she watched him fiddle with the zipper. It ran all the way from the small of her back to the nape of her neck, and her skin tingled very lightly as he followed the teeth and pulled the tab accordingly.
"Done?" she intoned.
He nodded, and she turned to face him. "You don't look half bad yourself, Lelouch."
She drew close, pressed a hand against his chest and leaned up, casually catching his lips in hers. His eyes widened slightly in surprise. Before he could pull her to him and return the kiss properly, she was already flat on the ground.
"What was that for?" he asked, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.
"Luck," she quipped, twirling a strand of hair around her finger. "You're going to need it."
"I have more than luck. I have you."
"Careful," she purred, "That silver tongue is going to be the death of you someday."
C.C. took one last look at herself in the mirror. "I know you want to make your brothers jealous, but—" She pointed at the front of her dress. "Are you sure this isn't your way of trying to see cleavage?"
It was a suggestive design, he had to admit, but C.C. pulled it off elegantly. The gaps in the stiff, red silk left just enough to the imagination that even Lelouch caught himself staring after a few seconds.
He cleared his throat. "It cost a small fortune. Appreciate it."
"Oh, I'm sure the guests will. Don't get too jealous."
Lelouch scoffed a second time. "Who do you think you're talking to?" He offered her his arm with none too amused an expression on his face. "Well, shall we get going?"
The crowd downstairs was getting rowdier the closer it drew to midnight, and the noise drowned out her quiet response as she slipped a hand through the crook of his elbow. It was only then that she noticed there was sweat on her palms. Was it apprehension at meeting Lelouch's family? Impossible. As if he guessed what she was thinking, though, Lelouch pressed a hand over hers. Her head snapped up in surprise, but the surprise only lasted half a second before being replaced with an easy smile as she took the first step out the door.
x x x
Lelouch winced at the sudden pressure but made no attempt to stop her.
"Oh?" C.C. intoned with the slightest raise of her brow. "What happened? You used to be so shy about these things, hm."
Lelouch sighed, resigned, but C.C. didn't miss the upward tug on the corner of his lip. "It seems you've rubbed off on me, witch."
C.C. undid the zipper the rest of the way, pulled back the fabric of his boxers and took him in her mouth.
There was a sharp intake of breath. Then, his fingers tangled in her hair, and what he said next made pleasant shivers run up and down her spine.
She pulled back a moment, eyes glinting in the semi-dark. "Your pronunciation was still awkward, but I suppose you're getting better."
He scoffed. "As selfish as ever I see."
Her tone became playful and taunting as she shifted on her knees and gave him a hard tug with her hand.
"Then I suppose I'll just go do something better with my time."
Before she could hear his witty retort, though, she moved forward once more, wrapped her lips around him, and the words died in his throat, the remnants escaping only as a low, embarrassing moan.
x x x
"Just wear it," Lelouch snapped, and before C.C. could move away, he'd draped the jacket over her shoulders. The hood flipped onto her head in the process, covering her eyes and bangs.
She tugged at the fur along the edge before lifting it slightly and peering out from under it at Lelouch.
"So demanding. Not gentlemanly-like at all."
x x x
"C.C.—?"
She closed the gap between them and pressed her lips to his. It shouldn't have been allowed for a witch like her to have lips as soft as she did. Her little kisses always caught him off guard, as though she were testing him. This time, however, he reciprocated and took her by surprise instead.
"You're getting better at this, boya," she murmured, slipping her arms around his neck.
"Be silent."