A/N: This is my second Code Geass story. It´s yaoi, though maybe you´ll see it more as shounen-ai? We´ll see, I guess. :D
This is How Family Works...
Watching Cornelia exercise had never been funny before. Impressive, yes; intimidating, hell yeah; even scary due to her discipline and stubbornness, but funny… no, this was the first time that particular adjective popped into his mind to describe how the purple-haired woman went on about her routine.
Because it was very funny indeed.
While practicing his punches and spin kicks against various punching bags on one side of the vast home gymnasium property of the Britannia family, Suzaku couldn't help but notice Cornelia´s actions out of the corner of his eye for two reasons. First, her huffs, puffs and curses were audible all the way to where he was. Second, the huge red ball she was using attracted too much attention because it squealed every time she moved.
It was just impossible to look away.
Giving the bag one last kick, Suzaku shook his head, decided to end his own routine for the day, grabbed a towel, then walked over to her.
"Miss Cornelia," he called as he approached, trying not to laugh at how ridiculous she looked sprawled over the ball, her lips tight, her round belly protruding over her own body.
She didn't appear to hear him at first, so he said, again, "Miss Cornelia."
This time, her head snapped up. "What is it, Kururugi?" she said breathlessly, sitting up on the ball, steadying it with her feet.
"Um, Miss Cornelia, should you be doing all these exercises? You are about to enter your second trimester."
Her eyes narrowed right away. "Who are you? Guilford?" she asked.
"No, ma´am, it´s just that I don't think…"
"Don't go all overprotective and macho on me, Kururugi. This is not the first time I go on with my active life while carrying a child."
At those words, Suzaku glanced to the left wall of the gymnasium, which was totally made of glass and gave a perfect view of the south gardens of the Britannia family land.
His eyes found right away the child Cornelia had mentioned, the three-year-old Paige. While she had Guilford´s hair, eye color and features, everything else about her was Cornelia: personality, attitudes, even expressions, not a good thing per se.
Next to Paige he found the reason he´d glanced out in the first place: tall, thin, raven hair a total disarray around his elegant features, Lelouch was carrying the girl piggyback style around the gardens, near the flowers to be precise. Though of course he couldn't hear what they were saying, Suzaku watched as Lelouch spoke to Paige, who laughed and hung on tighter to her uncle´s back.
A dopey smiled curved his lips.
Cornelia, who´d been looking at the couple as well, rolled her eyes. "See, Kururugi? I didn't stop exercising when I was pregnant with Paige. In fact, I did more strenuous stuff and she turned out alright. I´m sure the baby I carry now will be fine as well.
"I still think you should call it quits for today, Miss Cornelia."
"Oh, stop talking to Guilford, Kururugi. He´s washing your brain with all his protective gibberish. If you don't, I´ll tell Lelouch to keep a much better eye on you."
Suzaku couldn't help but snort, and his eyes went again to his boyfriend outside.
He´d met Lelouch Britannia about five years ago when he had just turned eighteen and was about to enter college. Even though he had already chosen to follow the engineering career, he would have preferred to go off to flight school because ever since he was a child, it had been his hobby to surf the sky. His father had been a pilot when younger, and he had hoped to follow in on his footsteps, but he hadn't had the chance or resources to attend the academy.
Of course, then his father received a call from a friend that said the owner of Britannia Enterprises needed an emergency pilot since the one appointed had a personal issue come up, couldn't attend and no one else was free. The friend had hoped Suzaku´s father would pilot but in the end it was the young man who showed up instead… and Charles Britannia decided to keep him as his personal pilot due to his excellent skills, discreet behavior and perfect obedience.
For the next two and a half years, Suzaku traveled around the globe with Charles. He got to see all the different branches of B.E., he got to understand what was Charles´s role as CEO and he got to meet all the children the man had.
How he came to know Lelouch… well, that was a complicated story. It began the day the mysterious boy showed up at the private airfield to complain and scream at Charles when he was about to depart for London about how incompetent he was; it continued with Suzaku feeling interest in the boy, getting to know him, his bravado, intelligence and how much Lelouch hated his father because he believed B.E. could be much more effective if only Charles would listen to him for a moment.
Oh, and his history with Lelouch also included the many times he had tried to manipulate Suzaku into sabotaging his father, all the screaming matches between the two, the inner battles, the I-like-you-but-you`re-an-idiot period and the months when after trying to go out together Suzaku decided to date Lelouch´s sister Euphemia in order to get a reaction out of the typically cold violet-eyed guy.
It was a very long, very complicated, kind of ironic story, but what mattered was that he and Lelouch had been a couple for a bit over a year and a half now, and since Charles´s death Lelouch had been able to improve B.E. with his siblings. It only mattered that Suzaku had returned to college and now piloted only for Lelouch and himself apart from keeping his job in the engineering unit of the company. Oh, not to mention both of them having moved to one part of the main Britannia family estate…
But that was another long and complicated story.
Geez. Suzaku´s mind scattered more than usual when he played the events back on his head.
"Kururugi, don't go on daydreaming about my brother. Have a little respect considering I´m here," Cornelia said, pursing her lips at the brunette´s sudden and exaggerated dreamy expression.
Suzaku blinked. "Uh…? Oh. Sorry, Miss Cornelia," he mumbled.
She snorted.
Cornelia Britannia was Lelouch´s oldest sister. Former chief of the London branch of B.E., she now managed the legal side of the company with her second-in-command and husband: Gilbert Guilford. The most interesting thing about the couple was how they managed to move their relationship from professional to romantic given Cornelia´s ten-year-old determination not to ever fall in love with anybody and Guilford´s thoughts of how she would never ever pay any attention to him. Throw in the fact they used to work in different continents… that too was a long story.
The most interesting thing about Cornelia herself was how she never called people by their first names if she could help it. Suzaku was Kururugi, Kanon was simply Maldini, her husband was just Guilford, and so on. Suzaku was sure the only reason she didn't call her siblings and her child by their surnames was because she would get confused. He wondered if the thought of referring to her family as "Britannia 1" or "B1" had ever crossed her mind.
Though come to think of it, code names were more a thing Lelouch would do.
Again, he glanced out the window. He frowned when he saw the gardens empty, but then a smooth voice said, "You two better be done. Paige and I are tired of waiting for you exercise lovers to finish, right?"
"Yes, uncle!" came the shrill reply.
Suzaku fixed his eyes on Lelouch and Paige as the two of them approached. The girl quickly threw herself into her mother´s arms. The raven-haired man just went to stand by the brunette, a smirk along those thin lips.
"Is the health nut done for the day?" he asked.
Suzaku rolled his eyes. "Yep. You?"
"What about me?"
"Are you finished with your routine?"
Lelouch looked confused for a couple of seconds, then he gave a low chuckle. "Like I´d ever torture myself with exercise," he said, and no one disagreed. Lelouch was as given to physical labor as Cornelia was to stay home and knit. The two didn't ever mix. It was kind of unfair since Lelouch was as tall and lean as a string bean, and Suzaku never missed an opportunity to tease him about it.
"You´re hopeless," he declared with a gentle smile.
"Don't I know it," Lelouch replied. He shrugged.
"You two are just so sweet with each other, aren't you?" Cornelia muttered.
"As sweet as you and Guilford, I´m sure," the younger Britannia assured her.
"Oh no, Momma and Papa are much sweeter than you," Paige corrected, her eyes wide.
"Is that so?"
"Yes!"
"Only because Ice Prince here hates any public display of affection," Suzaku said.
Lelouch shrugged. "They are unnecessary; nothing more than gestures that show just how insecure you are in your relationship," he said voice neutral.
"Of course not! It´s a way to show how good you feel in your relationship."
"I beg to differ."
Suzaku raised an eyebrow. "With the frozen heart and the forever logical brain you have, I am not surprised to hear that."
Lelouch frowned at him.
Two pair of female eyes traveled back and forth between them a couple of times.
"How and why do you keep up with him, anyway?" Cornelia asked the brunette.
"Because much to his own pain, he´s in love with our beloved yet standoffish brother," Schneizel´s voice cut it. The words were followed by the blonde appearing next to them in light blue sweats, which made him look paler and colder than usual.
"Speaking of the Ice King," Cornelia said.
"Oh, come now. I am far more cordial that Lelouch, or you for that matter. Kanon can testify to that."
"Kanon can´t testify squat because you´re always smothering him," Lelouch said.
"Therein lies the testimony, wouldn't you agree?"
Cornelia shook her head. "As much as I support and care for both of your relationships, dear brothers, Paige and I don't need to hear all this. If you´ll excuse us, we´ll go get some breakfast."
"Fast!" Paige echoed.
Schneizel tilted his head sideways. "It wouldn't make sense if you eat right after you finished your routine, would it, sis…?"
"Shut up, Ice King. Ice Prince, you better not make any smart remarks either. Paige and I are out of here." Without a further word, the two females walked out of the gymnasium.
As soon as they were alone, Suzaku laughed. "She got you both," he said.
"She always does," the blonde said matter-of-factly.
"She never does," Lelouch denied, crossed his arms and laid his eyes on the brunette. "What time are we supposed to leave for Japan today?"
"We need to be by the airfield at eleven on the dot. Why?"
"Just asking. Do you know if all the documents I need are ready to pick up?"
"Hell no. I´m pilot for this mission, not your lame personal assistant," Suzaku grumbled. As soon as he said it, he remembered Schneizel. "… Oops. Sorry. No offense meant, Mr. Schneizel."
"You have to stop calling me that soon, Suzaku, but no offense taken. Kanon isn't even here."
"I know, I just…"
"Don't worry about it."
"You´re so suave," Lelouch said with a small smile.
The brunette looked away.
Schneizel Britannia, Lelouch´s second oldest brother, vice-president of Britannia Enterprises , the man who in truth led the company nowadays. Officially and on paper, the CEO of B.E. was Odysseus, the oldest child Charles had, but he was a mediocre idiot who didn't have a spine much less the will to lead. Though the first heir to the company, every Britannia sibling knew it was Schneizel who ran things.
With Kanon Maldini at his side, of course.
Suzaku hadn't witnessed the beginning of their relationship (neither Cornelia´s and Guilford´s), but Lelouch had told him all about it; how Kanon became part of the B.E. executive team, how Charles had assigned him to assist Schneizel so he could spy on him and report back to Charles, how the blonde retaliated against Kanon, how hurt the two were after the events and how they got back together. Kanon now worked with Schneizel as part of the executive council, but he still served as watcher and even custodian both in the professional and romantic aspect.
"Schneizel needs someone to take care of him," Lelouch told Suzaku once. "He´s so damn cold and tactless it´s scary because it can all backfire on him."
"Like you?" Suzaku remembered saying.
"Maybe even worse. He´s a great leader and an excellent businessman, but he cares very little for things that don't serve him an immediate purpose. He´s kind of selfish as well."
"Sounds like another person I know."
"… You´re such an idiot. The point is, I´m glad he has Kanon with him."
"Oh?"
"Yes. Kanon is able to knock some humanity into him. He gets Schneizel to listen and to think not only with his head but with the heart I didn't know he had. He gets to open and enjoy the emotional side of my brother. I´m glad for it, because if Schneizel didn't have Kanon, I´m sure he would turn into a complete and utter sociopath."
"Like Lloyd, you mean."
"Indeed."
So Schneizel wasn't a sociopath anymore, but he was odd. Why? Because, much like Lelouch, he didn't know how to do things halfway. Before he was a total block of ice. Now… Suzaku was sure poor Kanon feared being left alone with the blonde.
But then against, maybe he didn't.
"Why are you going to Japan?"
The voice too Suzaku away from his train of thoughts. He glanced at Lelouch, who said, "You run the company and you don't know what I´m going to do?"
"I haven't been to the main offices in about three days."
"This was set about a month earlier."
Schneizel just arched an eyebrow.
The brunette sighed. "We´re doing rounds, Mr. Schneizel, that's it. We part for Japan today and should be done checking both the China and Taiwan offices by the end of the week," he explained.
"Oh." The blonde pursed his lips, then shook his head and turned around. "See you when you get back then."
"Aren´t you going to exercise?" Lelouch called.
"Kanon and I just returned from our daily jog. I only stopped by to say hello."
"At least you get your partner to do physical activities with you," Suzaku said.
A twisted smile formed on the blonde´s lips. "You and Lelouch get quite some physical activity as well, I´m sure," he said.
"I think Kanon´s the one who pushes," Lelouch disagreed, ingoring what Schneizel had said, and making the elder man turn around again with a blank expression. "I´m sure if it were up to Schneizel he would spend all morning…"
"Don't be rude, kid."
"… and possibly all afternoon with Kanon doing intimate physical…"
"Okay! No one wants to hear it!" Suzaku cried, slapping his palm over Lelouch´s mouth to silence him.
Schneizel smirked. "So nice to see one of you has common sense." With that, he left.
Lelouch slapped the hand away. "Don't do that," he ordered.
"Don't be such a jerk to your brother."
"Schneizel can take some teasing."
"No one can take your jokes; they´re too cruel. Anyway, let me grab a shower and then we part for the airfield."
"I still need the documents."
"Go get them, then!" With a sigh, Suzaku slung his arms over Lelouch´s shoulders in a sort of hugging-pushing away gesture. He began walking out of the gymnasium, and Lelouch had no choice but to obey.
"Don't do this," Lelouch muttered. "I can walk by myself, thank you very much."
"I´m sure you can," the brunette reassured him, and leaned in to kiss his cheek.
"Then let me go."
"Not a chance, Ice Prince."
Lelouch snorted.
Suzaku chuckled and leaned in again. This time, he managed to peck the other´s lips.
"I´ll meet you in the kitchen in twenty minutes, then we can leave," he whispered, and ran off without further word.
Lelouch watched him go away, then shook his head.
"Suzaku´s such a sentimental idiot," he mumbled, but found himself smiling.
The End
Another little note: So, I guess you saw how I dropped by hints about other couples and the main couple as well? You see, I plan on making all their stories eventually, and you could say this oneshot was the starting point. ;) Anyways, please leave me a review! I´ll appreciate it very much. Thanks for reading.