Author's Notes: Getting some backstory for Harley worked in here as well as a peek at her true personality.
Lelouch's eyes never left Harley's form for the entirety of the next morning's classes. He'd noticed that she was able to speak much more easily to Suzaku, largely due to their interactions over the past couple of days, but he could still tell that she was holding something back. He had also noticed a nagging feeling in the pit of his stomach that appeared whenever he saw Harley smile or laugh at something Suzaku said. However, he stubbornly refused to admit to himself that he was jealous of his friend or that he was growing more attracted to Harley the more he watched her. When he saw her come into class that morning, he'd noticed just how curvy she was. His violet orbs had trailed from her sweet little face to the swell of her breasts, eventually shifting to the gentle curve of her backside when she turned around. Once again, he questioned why he would feel this strange attraction to a girl he barely knew but those thoughts quickly left his head when Harley leaned forward over the desk just slightly. He barely stopped himself from licking his lips as he thought about bending her over the desk in an entirely different situation. He decided at that moment that he would make Harley his, no matter what.
He was pulled from his thoughts as the bell sounded for lunch to begin. He sent a small smile toward Suzaku and Harley as they headed in his direction.
"I'm going to run and get Nunnally," Lelouch said. "We'll meet you guys in a little bit, okay."
"Alright," Suzaku agreed while Harley nodded her head in response.
"Are you sure about this, Suzaku?" Harley asked after Lelouch had left.
"Nervous?" Suzaku inquired.
Harley shook her head. "Not exactly. I've never really done well around people I don't know. That's not to say that I don't enjoy meeting new people, though. I just..."
Suzaku blinked when Harley trailed off. "You just what? Are you afraid they won't like you or something?"
"Something like that," Harley replied. "I've had some...issues...in the past being accepted. That's why I usually choose to keep to myself."
"I understand," Suzaku said as he gave Harley a reassuring smile. "I wouldn't worry too much, though. The members of the council accepted me pretty quickly so I doubt you'll have any trouble."
"I hope you're right," Harley said.
"Hey, Suzaku!" Milly greeted as Suzaku and Harley made their way over to the group. She blinked when she caught sight of Harley. "Oh? Who's this?"
"Harley Brevard," Harley replied, giving a quick nod and small smile in greeting. "Nice to meet you."
Milly smiled back. "I'm Milly Ashford and any friend of Suzaku's is a friend of ours."
"Told you," Suzaku whispered as he and Harley sat down with the others save Lelouch, who had yet to arrive with Nunnally.
"Hey, you're in class with us, aren't you?" the redhead asked. "Oh, I'm Shirley, by the way. Pleasure to meet ya!"
"'Us'?" Harley asked.
"Yeah! With me, Rivalz, and Nina," Shirley replied gesturing to a blue-haired boy and black-haired girl respectively. "Kallen's not here today but she's in our class too. And I don't know if you've had a chance to meet Lulu yet but-"
"She's met him," Suzaku interjected. "It was actually Lelouch's idea that she join us today."
"Is that right?" Milly asked.
Harley nodded. "Yeah. I met him and his sister yesterday. The three of us and Suzaku talked for a while and he invited me to join you all for lunch."
Rivalz looked up suddenly. "Speak of the devil," he said before raising his hand up and waving to Lelouch and Nunnally as they made their way over.
Lelouch couldn't stop a sigh of relief from leaving his lips when he saw Harley. Given her apprehension about joining them yesterday, a small part of him had been worried that she wasn't going to join them. She was busily chatting with Milly and didn't look up immediately when he and Nunnally joined them, only turning her attention to them when he sat down next to her. Though Harley greeted both of them with a smile, Lelouch couldn't help but be mildly irritated when she focused her attention on Nunnally and not him. He was glad that the two of them got along as well as they did but he was never going to be able to charm Harley if she kept her focus elsewhere. If all else failed, he could just use his Geass and command her to love him but he only intended to use it as a last resort. Lelouch was well aware that he was considered very attractive by just about all the females in the school so charming Harley should be a fairly simple task. Now if he could just get her attention...
"So how did you meet Suzaku anyway, Harley?" Milly asked, pulling Lelouch from his thoughts.
"He heard me playing my guitar the other day and stopped to listen. We started talking to each other from there," Harley explained before turning to Suzaku. "I'm not really sure why you were so fascinated, though. I can't be the first person you've seen playing a guitar."
"No, but you are the first person I've seen playing with your eyes closed," Suzaku retorted.
Nunnally nodded in agreement. "It was amazing. I've never heard anything like it before."
"Are you serious?!" Shirley exclaimed. "You've got to play for us sometime, Harley. Is the guitar the only thing you play?"
Harley shook her head. "The guitar is what I'm best at but, if an instrument has strings, odds are that I'm at least somewhat proficient on it. I've been playing the guitar the longest, though."
"How long have you been playing?" Rivalz asked.
"About since middle school," Harley answered. "My parents were going through a divorce and I started learning how to play to distract myself from it. That's a big reason why I chose to enroll in Ashford Academy instead of staying in the Homeland."
"I'm so sorry to hear that," Nunnally said with a frown.
"Yeah, that's gotta be pretty rough," Rivalz added.
"It's not as bad as it sounds," Harley replied. "As hard as it was at the time, I realize now that the divorce was the best thing that could have happened to my parents. They were fighting almost constantly and I was starting to get dragged into it. It wasn't easy adjusting to splitting my time between both of them, but they get along much better now and they've both been present in my life even after the divorce."
Milly smiled. "Sounds like you have a really good relationship with them."
Harley nodded, a small smile decorating her face as well. "I couldn't ask for more loving or supportive parents. I don't get to see my dad as often as I'd like since his work keeps him in the Homeland for the most part, but my mom has a second home in the Tokyo Settlement so she comes by to visit fairly often."
"What kind of work does your father do?" Suzaku asked.
"He designs and builds Knightmare Frames," Harley answered simply.
"Hang on a sec," Rivalz said. "Your father builds Knightmares and you said your last name was Brevard... You wouldn't happen to be related to Count Anthony Brevard, would you?"
Lelouch couldn't keep the surprised look off of his face. Anthony 'Tony' Brevard was one of the heavy hitters in Knightmare technology. He'd been behind the more recent Sutherland designs as well as the Gloucester's that Cornelia and her circle piloted. The man was a genius and he'd managed to build a very successful business empire with the technology he'd created. The man was also well known for being rather eccentric and outright refusing to follow most noble protocol to the point that most normally forgot the man was a Count. His gaze shifted back to Harley only to see that the apprehensive look had entered her eyes again.
Harley was silent for a long while before finally nodding her head. "Yes. Anthony Brevard is my father."
'I wonder if this is what she was hiding,' Lelouch thought. 'Not only does this make her landed nobility, it also means that she's the heiress to one of the most successful weapons development companies in the world.'
"Wow, that's incredible, Harley!" Shirley exclaimed. "How come you never said anything about it before?" She blinked. "Oh, but if it's too personal...
"It wasn't a big secret, if that's what you mean," Harley said. "Dad's done his best to keep me out of the press but that's only because I told him I didn't want people here to treat me differently because of my lineage."
"Is that why you keep to yourself the way you do?" Lelouch asked. "You don't want people to make the connection?"
"That would make sense," Rivalz added. "Besides, I've seen your dad at press conferences and I'd never guess you two were related. You seem so down to earth compared to him."
Harley laughed. "Trust me, I'm more like my dad than you know. My mom comes from another noble family that's pretty well known for their eccentricity, so I'm getting it from both sides of the family. That's the real reason I tend to avoid other people; it's not that I don't like people, I just don't want them to be put off when they realize how quirky I am. As for my title, I'm not really all that concerned about people finding out. I'd just rather not have to worry about whether or not people like me for who I am or for my bloodline."
"Well, you don't have to worry about any of us saying anything," Nunnally said. "I do have to ask you, though, with regard to how strange you think you are... Are you happy being that way? Because if you are, there's no point in hiding it. All you're doing is making yourself unhappy and that's no way to live."
Harley sighed. "I don't like putting on airs. At all. It's exhausting for me to hold myself back all the time and, to be honest, it makes me feel...almost dirty. I feel like I'm lying to everyone."
"Then why bother putting up a front in the first place?" Suzaku asked.
"Because while I'd rather be my usual, weird self, I don't think I could handle being rejected because of it," Harley explained. "I've had it happen before; people would say they didn't care, but they got tired of my quirkiness after a while. I just-"
Harley was interrupted by the sound of her cell phone ringing. She pulled it out of her bag and took a look at the screen before flipping the phone open. "Talk to me." A pause. "Uh-huh." A slightly longer pause. "What?! Oh my God, that's awful!" Another pause. "Okay, I'll be right there!" And with that, Harley hung up the phone and turned back to the group. "Sorry about that. What were we talking about?"
"Umm, Harley? Is everything okay?" Shirley asked.
"Yeah, why do you ask?" Harley replied.
"Who was that on the phone?" Suzaku asked.
Harley shrugged. "I dunno. Wrong number."
Everyone was silent for a moment before Milly spoke up. "Is this what you meant when you said you inherited your parents' eccentricity?"
"Sort of," Harley replied. "Stuff like that's just the tip of the iceberg. I actually get a lot worse the more comfortable I am with the people I'm around."
"I see," Milly said before immediately turning to Shirley. "We're keeping her."
"Umm, what?" Harley asked as Milly turned to the rest of the group.
"I vote that we make Harley the newest member of the Student Council," Milly announced. "What do you guys think? We could really use a personality like hers."
"I'm for it," Suzaku said before turning toward Harley. "I think it'll good for you, Harley. It's a lot of fun and you won't have to worry about hiding your true self. If you couldn't already tell, we've got a number of strong personalities on the council already."
"I think it would be good for you too," Nunnally added. "I won't lie to you, though; I'm hoping you'll join so I can hang out with you more often."
"You'll be our personal wild card," Milly continued. "I bet you'd be a great person to bounce ideas off of for new events around campus!"
Shirley smiled. "And you don't have to worry about any of us getting 'tired' of your personality. We've been dealing with the Prez for years!"
"What do you say, Harley?" Lelouch asked. "It's your call."
Harley mulled over her options for a long while before answering. "I'll do it."
"Excellent!" Milly cheered as she pulled Harley into a hug.
Before anyone could say anything more, the bell sounded to signal the start of afternoon classes.
"Awww, I guess we've gotta head back," Milly complained as everyone stood up to head back to class. "See you all after classes!"
"Bye, everyone!" Nunnally called as Lelouch walked over to her. "See you all after class!"
Lelouch shot one last glance in Harley's direction before taking Nunnally to her afternoon classes.
'You had me worried there for a minute, Harley,' Lelouch though. 'I was afraid you were going to say no. I was right in thinking you were an intriguing girl and now, thanks to Milly, I'm going to get to see you so much more. It's funny; I actually feel excited to go back to class and for the Council meeting after school. Until then, my little lamb.'
Ending Notes: So we finally got a look at Harley's real personality as well as some insight regarding her family life. Like I said before, though, Harley's personality won't come out in full until the next chapter.
As for Harley's parents, I do have plans for them both to appear in the story. Some of you may have already caught on to this, but Harley's father is essentially an expy of Tony Stark and I cannot wait to bring him in! Her mother is the older sister of another quirky noble that we all know and love, but I'm not going to tell you who he is just yet.
Hopefully Harley was a little less awkward this time but, as I said, I've never written a character quite like her before so I hope you'll be patient with me. Please let me know what you think, though! Feedback and constructive criticism are more than welcome! Thank you all so much for reading! Geekinthepink, out!