Riinnngggg

"Hey Lelouch…!" Lelouch Lamperouge rolled over groaning, ready to throw the offending phone through his hotel window.

"Suzaku…? It's 2 a.m. why are you call…oh…"

"Lelouch, no… no… I just wanted to talk to my best friend. I miss you is all!"

"You couldn't wait to tell me that nonsense at a reasonable hour?! And even if you waited for a reasonable hour, what makes you think I wanna hear that nonsense?! What is wrong with you? Are you rolling?!" Lelouch chided the boy on the other end. His smile however, the smile that was in no way apparent over telephone lines, completely contradicted his words. Plus, Suzaku and Lelouch had had amazing phone sex when Suzaku was "poisoned" with MDMA (by his friend Rivalz), so it didn't hurt to bring it up, maybe make the 2 a.m. call worth something. He was already up. (in more than one way).

"God Lelouch that was only one time and… I don't want to talk about that either… I just haven't talked to you in over 6 months and, you know, I just wanted to see how you were and… talk to you about something very important" Suzakus voice seemed teeming with joy laced with just a twinge of hesitancy. Lelouch had never heard the mixture before.

"Hrmmm? What are you waiting for then idiot? Speak your peace then afford me mine."

"Are you sitting down?"

"I'm going to die… die from someone else's stupidity, is that a thing?"

"Ok ok, I'm sorry, I'm just so nervous… Lelouch… I'm getting married and I want you to be my best man" Lelouch fell off the bed. Never mind that he was nowhere near the edge or at an angle for such an occurrence to even be possible. It was as if an invisible being had come and reached into his heart with one hand and onto his back with the other and flung him out of bed.

"Lelouch? What happened? Are you OK?"

"Suzaku… I'm in NO mood for your jokes, it's late, this isn't funny…" Deny and avoid and project and redirect and ignore, this HAD TO BE A JOKE.

"Lelouch… I met her 3 months ago, her name is Euphemia… or Euphy as everyone calls her, I… she's amazing Lelouch, you'll LOVE HER, she knows all about you, I talk about you all the time. She even knows the prior nature of our relationship but…" Lelouch winced at the word 'prior' "she knows that we weren't in love or anything and she definitely knows that I'm head over heels in love with her and she's so excited to meet you!..."

"… … … …" Lelouch had dropped the phone and run to the bathroom to hyperventilate.

"Lelouch?"

"LELOUCH?"

Lelouch hurried back out after splashing some water on his face.

"S..sorry Suzaku, it's just… you can't honestly say that you LOVE someone after only knowing them for three months. It's not that I don't want you to be happy (with me, be happy WITH ME), it's just that, you're my best friend and I'm protective of you and three months is so ridiculous. I've known you for 11 years and I barely like you (… I'm in love with you) so… pardon my skepticism… my totally justifiable skepticism"

"Lelouch, that was… sweet, in your own Lelouch-way. I'm not asking you to abandon your doubt. I'm just asking you to get to know her. Test her all you want, test me while you're at it, test our love, we both welcome it." Lelouch wanted to just shout at him to stop using the word LOVE (in regards to another woman that is).

"Suzaku… don't you prefer guys?" Lelouch was now just looking for any idle reason he could find to end an engagement, over the phone, at 2 am, with his best friend. It's not as if he didn't know that his best friend was bi-sexual and therefore, completely defensible in falling in love with a girl. What he didn't know or realize or was in denial about was that it was possible for his best friend to find a girl or anyone else to fall in love with.

"Lelouch… love is love. Guy or girl doesn't matter. I loved you at one point, you're a guy. And now I'm in love again, with a girl" Lelouch closed his eyes so tightly, he started seeing gray-scale shapes morphing all around him. He remembered the day Suzaku told him he loved him. He remembered talking the emerald-eyed boy down to believing that his feelings were wrong and ill placed and definitely not reciprocated. He lied. He did it because his real name wasn't Lelouch Lamperouge, like his best friend thought, but Lelouch Vi Britannia. The long lost run-away prince who had to stay on the move so that his family wouldn't find him. Lelouch knew he couldn't provide stability for Suzaku, he couldn't give the boy the promise of safety or security. So he lied. But… he never stopped loving him and now that there was a chance, a strong likelihood really, that he could lose him? No. that was NOT an option. Granted he didn't have everything figured at this junction. But he knew this much… Suzaku Kururugi was his. Not some bimbo girls.

"Send me the address, I'll fly out as soon as I can, when is this so-called wedding?"

"Lelouch, I said you could test our love" 'STOP SAYING LOVE GOD DAMNIT' "but that doesn't mean I'll stand by and allow derisive comments about us or our engagement" 'WHAT?! Oh god, this might be harder than I thought' Lelouch felt sick.

"Suzaku… shut up, I will say however many derisive things I want to, also, let's not forget who taught you that word, I taught it to you, I can unteach it to you too, I have no problem smacking the word out of your head" 'Honestly, how could Suzaku already feel so possessive about someone, enough to already reprimand me for MY PERSONALITY?!'

"haha, Lelouch, the wedding… oh God, please don't kill me… the wedding is in two weeks. And you HAVE to be my best man. And now you can go ahead and scold me all you want for being irresponsible and not telling you ahead of time and all that, just please avoid the topic of it being a mistake to marry her, scold me all you want about any of my other decisions or demands, just not for marrying her" Lelouch fell off the bed again. This time though, he was already teetering on the edge.

"Suzaku… Oh… Suzaku…" Lelouch felt sick and his usual eloquent-self fled deep into the haven his splintered mind offered. Lelouch would usually have LOVED when Suzaku used the word scold with him. It would lead to some very fun and sexually satisfying memories that Lelouch regularly called upon as fantasies. But now? In this context? He wanted to guinely scold Suzaku. He wanted to beat the stupid right out of him or maybe beat something else out of him (love? Cum?). But he couldn't, he had to treat this matter delicately so as not to alienate himself or possibly even drive the semi-impulsive brunette to an even earlier marriage.

"Lelouch… I'm sorry I sprung this on you like this. You know if you were stationary for more than a few weeks or so, I would have come and told you in person but that's the problem…" Suzaku's beautiful gentle voice pulled on Lelouch's heart strings.

"Yeah Suzaku… that is the problem, isn't it…" Lelouch sighed. He never had a reason to really hate or second guess the decision he made to leave his abusive home behind. He came close to it once, the day the emerald-eyed boy told him he loved him, but today, today he felt full blown regret for a lot of things.