Two fighters stand facing each other. One already has a sword drawn and the other confident in the power of his fists. They do not care about the magnificent view of the mountains before them, nor the reason for their battle; both were intently focused on bringing his opponent down.
The timer goes off.
Three, two, one…
"I forgot how fun videogames could be," Lloyd comments, not taking his eyes off the widescreen plasma television. Playing videogames before bed has been their pastime this week since a certain blonde Knightmare pilot lent his console to the scientist.
"Cheese, Lloyd. You sound like an old man," his fiancée replies, also focused on the game. Her fingers press the buttons on the game controller rapidly and her character launches a 15-hit combo.
His character defends and counters. "Well, I am older than you."
"By eleven years, so?"
"Doesn't it bother you?" At this, Lloyd stops playing the game. He looks at Milly.
She takes advantage of the situation and lets her character regain lost HP. "Why would it? Aren't you happy with me – a beautiful, educated, young lady with experience in the field of business and politics beyond her years?" She gives him a quick glance and shows him one of her killer smiles to accentuate her point.
He chuckles and resumes playing against her. "Quite full of yourself, are you not?"
"Someone once told me that humility was one of my strong points."
The round has ended, Milly's swordsman character won.
"So…" They were back to character roster, choosing fighters for the next round. He wanted to win this time. "Me being older than you does not bother you, at all?" Lloyd asks again.
She takes her eyes off the screen to look at the platinum-haired engineer. "Lloyd," she sighs. She stares at space above Lloyd's head while counting his positive points. "You're smart, interesting, funny…" She pauses to see if he was listening. She then continues, "…an Earl, influential and incredibly rich. Why would that bother me?" She grabs her controller again to choose her next character.
His body relaxes, not of relief but of a dampened spirit – what she said was not exactly what he wanted to hear. A moment of silence passes. Then he speaks,
"I think I'm going to go out for a while." Avoiding her eyes, he stands up from the couch they were both sitting in.
"Aww, Lloyyyd…" she calls him with an endearing voice. The disappointed look on his face wounded Milly. She quickly grabbed his wrist and tried to pull him back to the couch.
He didn't struggle against her force because he did not wish to hurt her. Seconds later he finds himself sitting back on his spot. Why was he so powerless against her? Why couldn't a single shout of frustration come out of him?
"Lloyd. Lloyd," she calls his name to get his attention. She fails. His eyes are fixed on the wall above the tv.
She then moved closer, sat on his lap.
Her face was only three or so inches away from his, making sure that he wouldn't be looking anywhere else as she spoke. "Your age doesn't bother me because I love you, silly. Nothing else matters."
The game was forgotten for the rest of the night.
Older
Code Geass
published 06-13-09
edited 06-01-13