What's up what's up what's up?
Chapter 2, woohoo! It's okay I guess. More information than plot. I hope you guys like it anyway! Once again, shout out to my technical advisor who helped me out a ton with this bastard. She's fabulous.
Also it anyone's going to be at OTAKON 2011 this weekend I will be to dressed as Yosuke Hanamura from Persona 4 and Emperor Lelouch for a second on Friday. I'm the Yosuke with the loud obnoxious group of friends, if you're there say hi!
Disclaimer: I don't own Code Geass, just hanging out with Lelouch and Suzaku in between sewing cosplay. Oh yes. I also don't own the song Shark in the Water, VV Brown does.
Baby there's a shark in the water, there's something underneath my bed, oh please believe I said...
"Okay, I love you, bye." Kallen snapped her phone closed and looked at it for a few seconds before putting it back in her pocket. She made a point to talk to her mother every day, especially on days she couldn't go see her. She yawned. Whoever thought it was a good idea to have classes this early in the morning must have been on more drugs than Mao on a bad day. The worst part was her class had ended early because it was the first day. It was only 9:00, according to the clock on the wall opposite her. She was sitting in the school's student lounge and cafeteria and special event room and study hall. At a more reasonable hour, the room would be filled with people, but now it was practically empty. She preferred it this way: she didn't have to compete with people for the comfortable chairs, like the one in which she was sitting. She yawned again. She thought vaguely of curling up in her chair and sleeping until her next class, but suddenly spotted Milly entering the room and looking just as tired as Kallen.
"Milly!" She called, waving. Milly looked around for a second before noticing Kallen sitting in the corner.
"Hey!" She said, sounding slightly dazed. She hurried over to Kallen and perched herself on the low table in front of her chair.
"Why are you here so early?" Kallen asked.
"I had a meeting with my advisor. Why we had to meet this early escapes me, but, whatever. Not a big deal! Why are you here so early?" It amazed Kallen that Milly always managed to look pretty and put together, even on no sleep.
"I have an 8 AM class this semester," she replied with another yawn. Milly looked horrified.
"That's terrible! I'm so sorry!"
"Me too, believe me." Milly gave her a sympathetic nod.
"Do you want to go get coffee? One cup just isn't enough this morning." She sighed dramatically and Kallen laughed.
"Sure, let's go to that place around the corner." They gathered their things, put on their winter coats and exited. They turned right out of their building, then again on 6th Avenue and entered a small café at 12th street. It was warm and smelled like baking bread and roasting coffee.
"You go get us a table," Milly said, handing Kallen her coat. "What do you want?"
"Just a coffee," Kallen replied, taking the coat. "With cream." Quick as a flash she slid into a chair around a scrubbed wooden table farthest from the door. Milly returned shortly, placed a warm mug of coffee in front of Kallen and shook her head when she asked how much it was.
"Don't worry about it," Milly said with a smile.
"Thank you," Kallen replied, also smiling and taking a grateful sip. Immediately, it seemed, she felt more awake. "Your party last night was awesome, I meant to tell you before I left but I couldn't find you." Milly waved her hand airily as if pushing the apology away.
"I'm just glad you had fun! I wish it could have gone on longer but…"
"Then we'd all be on even fewer hours of sleep."
"Exactly!" They both laughed. "I'll have another party in a few weeks, once the co-op board gets over it, you know."
"Yeah."
"Have you seen Lelouch yet today?" Milly asked out of nowhere.
"What?" Kallen answered, taken aback. "No, what am I, his keeper? Ask CC." The last sentence sounded much sharper than she'd intended. Milly raised her eyebrows. "Why?" Kallen asked, softening her tone apologetically.
"I just wanted to know if Suzaku had fun at the party," Milly said, shrugging. "You too seemed to hit it off," she added with a wink. Kallen took another sip of her coffee, not sure how to answer.
"I guess we did." Kallen put the cup down on the table again. The coffee moved back and forth, lapping against the sides of the cup like ocean waves. For some reason, she found it enthralling. Perhaps because it was early, or the warmth of the coffee shop had relaxed her, or because she really didn't feel like answering the question she knew Milly was burning to ask.
"Lelouch won't be jealous, will he?" Milly asked lightly.
'Wrong question…' Kallen thought, both confused and grateful.
"Of me or of Suzaku?" Kallen asked pointedly, making Milly laugh.
"Fair question, you tell me," Milly replied just as pointedly, taking another sip of her coffee and grinning. Kallen didn't say anything. It seemed she'd dodged the "why aren't you and Lelouch together?" conversation, but she also didn't know the answer to Milly's question herself. Not that it mattered.
She loved Lelouch, there was no denying it. But she didn't love him in a freaky possessive way, no… Loving Lelouch was like, loving a fictional character. She cared for him deeply and just wanted him to be happy, regardless of what he did or with whom. She also knew he cared for her and respected her in much the same way: they had a mutual understanding. That was it. A mutual understanding. That being said, if he did turn around and say he wanted something more from her, she wouldn't say no… but she doubted that would ever happen. Lelouch didn't seem to be interested in people that way, regardless of gender. Which Kallen thought was easier, as there were definitely people she would have a problem with him dating. Or even fucking occasionally. Not that he did that sort of thing. As far as she knew, anyway.
"Kallen?"
"Huh?" She shook her head and suddenly noticed Milly watching her curiously. "Sorry, got distracted. What were you saying?"
"I just asked how your mother's doing," Milly prompted. Kallen was pleased that Milly had asked.
"She's doing really well, thanks! She's just finished her course of anti-inflammatory drugs, and it looks like all the damage can be reversed."
"That's fantastic!" Milly exclaimed, clapping her hands together. "I'm so happy for you guys, seriously that's wonderful." She smiled so warmly and sincerely that Kallen felt herself blush.
"Thank you, me too," she replied sheepishly, returning the smile.
"She's lucky to have a daughter like you, I know most people probably wouldn't care as much, you know?" Milly said, cocking her head to the side. Kallen shrugged.
"I've put her through a lot, this is the least I can do," she said. Milly nodded in an understanding sort of way.
"Still though, she's lucky." Milly checked the time on her phone. "We should get back to school, we've got class in twenty minutes."
BEEP. BEEP. BEEEEEEP. BEEP.
"Ugh…" A hand emerged from under the covers and slammed the snooze button on the alarm. This happened twice more before CC came into the room, shut the alarm off and ripped the covers off Lelouch's bed. Lelouch, still in the clothes he was wearing the night before, curled up into an irritated ball.
"Class," CC said simply. Lelouch opened his eyes and gazed blearily at her for a few seconds before sitting up.
"Are you actually going to class today?" He asked.
"Yes, and you should too."
"I know." Lelouch stood up slowly. He wasn't hung over or anything, just exhausted, and…
Taman nee…
Lelouch bit his lip.
"What happened to your neck?" CC asked, sounding more curious than concerned.
"Huh?" Lelouch stared, looking slightly dazed.
"Your neck," CC repeated, taking a step closer to him. She extended her hand and gently touched the side of his neck, but he withdrew almost immediately, his hand rushing to cover the bruise he suddenly remembered was there.
"I'm going to shower," he snapped, and left the room. CC watched him curiously, and, after deciding he was sure to explain himself eventually, went back to her room to get dressed.
Lelouch stormed through the living room, down the hall, into his bathroom and slammed the door. He took a deep breath, faced the mirror and took his hand away from his neck. Sure enough, there was a sloppy red blotch just below his ear. He cocked his head to one side to better examine it.
A kiss, do-
Lelouch's hand snapped back to his neck and he turned away from the mirror, his eyes shut tight. 'Suzaku…' He thought, blood rushing to his face. He slowly opened his eyes and turned to face the mirror again. He looked… different. His eyes were unusually bright and his normally porcelain skin was glowing in flush. That was how Suzaku had looked, after the music had stopped, but they were still… Lelouch turned on the shower and disrobed. The flush had spread to his chest. He turned and looked in the mirror over his shoulder. His back was still pale, but-! No no, that wasn't a scratch. Suzaku hadn't scratched, only touched. Only ran his fingertips up and down his back, desperately but gently, under his shirt. Lelouch stepped into the shower. The hot water brought the flush to the rest of his body.
Taman nee…
What had that meant? He wanted to ask. He wanted to see Suzaku.
Kirei-na me…
Lelouch exhaled sharply.
Taman nee…
He tried to relax, to focus…
Taman nee…
…
"Can I bum one of those?" CC asked. She and Lelouch had stopped on their way to school so he could light up.
"Sure," he replied, offering her the carton of cigarettes. CC put one her in her mouth and Lelouch, after lighting his own and inhaling, lit it for her. She inhaled and they continued along 24th St.
"What classes do you have today?" She asked, exhaling.
"I don't know, I just know the times." CC nodded in agreement. "Milly's party was fun, too bad we had to leave early," she continued, eyeing the scarf Lelouch was wearing around his neck. Lelouch inhaled for a long time.
"True, that sucked," he said on his exhale. "How would you know, you were high as fuck."
"Because Mao was finally leaving me alone, I had just started to enjoy myself."
"Heh." They turned right on 6th Avenue, avoiding long lines of people waiting for cheap coffee at food carts.
"Are you going to tell me what happened to your neck?" CC asked pointedly. She finished her cigarette and tossed the butt behind her. Lelouch rolled his eyes.
"Fuck, I was hoping you'd just keep asking me inane questions until I got annoyed enough to tell you." CC maintained her deadpan expression.
"You caught me."
"You were being uncharacteristically easy to read."
"I can be curious if I want to!" They both smiled at each other. They had reached their school's building and Lelouch finished his cigarette.
"I want another one…" He said mournfully.
"Worried about seeing whoever it was you snuck off with last night?"
"What?"
"Don't worry about it." And with that CC strode airily through the door toward the elevators, leaving Lelouch standing alone, awkwardly outside the doors. He knew he was blushing.
"OW!" Suzaku sat bolt upright and looked at his hand, then at his cat. "While I was sleeping?" Arthur jumped into Suzaku's lap and rubbed his head against his chest, purring happily. Suzaku looked at the clock next to his bed. 9:30. He didn't have class until noon. He glared at Arthur, but scratched his ears resignedly. "Are you hungry? Come on." As if he understood, Arthur jumped off Suzaku's lap and ran happily to the door. Suzaku groaned, stood up and followed him all the way into his kitchen. Arthur meowed expectantly until Suzaku put food down on the floor for him. He rubbed his eyes, thinking of how nice it would be t go back to sleep. He wasn't especially tired, he just felt groggy. Last night had been… strenuous.
Although he'd passed out the second he'd gotten home the entire train ride and walk back had been so frustrating. Frustrating because the night could have gone on so much longer, the train was slow, he was really drunk, it was cold… Except that it was actually because Lelouch wasn't with him. It wasn't like he wanted to… well, he did, but, not like that! Except… Suzaku stomped irritably back to his room and threw himself onto his bed. He wondered if Lelouch had class today. Maybe they'd see each other, maybe they could actually talk and not just… Suzaku buried his face in his pillow, groaning to himself again. He could text or call, that was always the right thing to do in these situations, right? Yes. He'd send Lelouch a Hi-let's-not-be-akward-even-though-we-hooked-up-at-a-party-when-we-were-drunk-because-I-really-do-like-you text. When he woke up for class and felt more coherent. Feeling better, Suzaku pulled his covers up to his shoulders and immediately fell asleep again.
Kallen and Milly turned the corner at 12th St. to find Lelouch standing alone in front of the doors. Normally he'd be smoking, but now he just looked agitated. "Speak of the devil!" Milly said. "Lelouch!" Lelouch turned, and when he saw who it was immediately composed himself. He waved indifferently, his usual bored expression looking especially so this morning.
"Morning, sunshine," Kallen said, affection playing at the corners of her mouth.
"I hate you," he responded. There was affection there too; you just had to look for it.
"You look destroyed," Milly said directly. Lelouch gave her a nasty look.
"Yes well that's to be expected when you have parties the first night of the semester," he said in a dignified sort of way, making both Milly and Kallen laugh.
"Truth," Kallen replied with a nod. "What class do you have now?"
"I have absolutely no idea." Milly and Kallen laughed again. Several girls Kallen recognized from another class walked past them through the doors, giving Lelouch the once-over as they did so. Kallen shot them an extremely nasty look through the doors, but neither Lelouch nor Milly seemed to notice.
"I'm glad I found you," Milly was saying. "Did Suzaku have a good time last night?" Lelouch swallowed.
"I'd say so," he replied lightly. Milly beamed.
"Good! Invite him to my next one, okay? Anyway," she checked the time on her cell phone. "I'm going to class, I'll see you two later!" And with that Milly strode past them into the school building. Lelouch was playing absent-mindedly with the scarf around his neck. He took Milly not asking anything else as a good sign. If CC was the only party guest who had some idea of what had happened, he intended to keep it that way. He watched Kallen for a second, waiting to see if she had anything to say, on that subject or otherwise. She looked back at him, looking both tired and oddly receptive. He half wanted to tell her, the strangeness and awkwardness of the whole thing might be easier to deal with if he could ask advice, and he got the sense that she'd be much better equipped to deal with the situation than CC. Still though…
"Are you okay?" Kallen asked, sounding concerned. Lelouch nodded.
"Yeah I'm fine, just a little hung over." Kallen nodded sympathetically.
"I hear that; I was pretty done last night." Since she seemed satisfied, Lelouch decided he'd better get to class too.
"I'm going to go to class too, it's cold."
"Okay." Lelouch made to go inside. "Lelouch!" He turned, suddenly wary.
"What?" Kallen was watching him again. His face looked tense for some reason and he tugged at his scarf again.
"Would you come with me to the hospital next week?" Immediately, it seemed, he relaxed again.
"Of course," he replied simply. Kallen smiled and the two of the walked into school together. She wanted to ask him something else, but wasn't sure what. He seemed like he had something on his mind, but she knew asking him would be pointless. If it were serious, it would come out eventually. Although they were close, their mutual understanding entailed a certain secrecy. They reached the elevators and Kallen pressed the button. Lelouch had taken off his winter coat but left the scarf he'd been wearing on.
"Nice scarf," she said playfully, eyeing it. Lelouch's eyes narrowed.
"Thank you," he replied indifferently. A chime above them announced the arrival of the elevator. The doors opened and sleepy students poured out of it. Lelouch, Kallen and a few others entered. Two girls in front of them were having an animated discussion about how the shorter one in designer sunglasses could have apparently "fucked that girl up" at a concert last night. Kallen sighed, suddenly feeling sleepy again. At the third floor she pushed past the pair of them, taking care to shove the shorter one into the side of the car, earning herself a nasty look but nothing else. She waved goodbye to Lelouch and headed into a small classroom to the left of the elevators.
"Kallen?" She looked up to notice Shirley sitting around the table in the center of the room.
"Hi," Kallen replied, confused, as she made her way over to where Shirley was sitting. "You're in The Immigrant and the City too? Aren't you a psychology major?" Shirley nodded vigorously.
"Yes! But my advisor said this class would be good for me, it's something sort of new, you know?"
"Ahh." Kallen resignedly sat down next to her.
"You're global studies, right?" Shirley asked. Kallen pursed her lips.
"Urban studies," she responded stiffly. "Global studies majors think they know everything." 'Like psych majors,' she added in her head. Shirley shrugged apologetically.
"My mistake!" At that point their professor, a man in his mid-thirties with a tattoo just visible above the collar of his shirt, entered and everyone stopped talking. This was lucky as Kallen was just about at her Shirley quota for the moment.
Lelouch's class, which turned out to be on propaganda and was actually interesting, ended at 11:30. He made his way back to the first floor and into the café where Kallen had been relaxing earlier that morning. He spotted Rivalz sitting alone at a table, pouring over a printed reading. Deciding to disturb him anyway, Lelouch went over to the table and sat down. Rivalz looked up, looking slightly dazed.
"Oh, hey!" He said, smiling.
"Am I disturbing you?" Lelouch asked, eyeing his reading.
"Nah don't worry about it, I've read what's important," Rivalz replied, rolling his eyes.
"Ahh so it's one of those," Lelouch said, exaggerating the last word. Rivalz sighed sadly.
"What could have been said in a paragraph took twenty pages. Oh well, what can you do?" They both laughed. "Do you have class right now?" Lelouch nodded glumly.
"Yeah at noon. Do you?" Rivalz's face darkened.
"Class at noon, then work." Lelouch made a disgusted noise, but with sympathy in his face. Rivalz nodded appreciatively. "It is what it is. Oh yeah-" but Lelouch wasn't listening. Instead all his attention seemed to be on his phone, which he'd taken out of his bag to check the time. "Lelouch?"
"Huh? I'm sorry, what?" He quickly shoved his phone back into his pocket. Rivalz watched him curiously.
"It's okay, I was just going to ask if you'd seen Milly today?" His cheeks went pink, but Lelouch didn't notice.
"Yeah I saw her earlier, why?"
"Don't worry about it," Rivalz said in a would be off-hand sort of way. "Why are you wearing that scarf?" He asked in an obvious subject change. "It's actually warm in here today."
"Don't worry about it," Lelouch shot back in a mocking voice. Rivalz made a face.
"Yeah yeah yeah you're funny." He suddenly waved at someone across the room. Lelouch looked around and saw Shirley and Kallen in the doorway. They waved too and walked over to join them.
"Hi, Rivalz!" Shirley said brightly. She sat next to Lelouch and smiled broadly at him, her face also pink. Lelouch ignored her.
"I'm glad I ran into you, actually," Kallen said eagerly. "I was wondering if you still had-" Lelouch felt the conversation continue around him without paying much attention. He took the opportunity to take his phone out of his pocket, and, very nervously, flip it open.
TEXT MESSAGE
SUZAKU
Hey thanks for inviting me to that party last night, all your friends are really nice, I had an awesome time. Are you free this afternoon? Maybe we could go get coffee? No pressure or anything.
Suzaku pressed send, feeling like his insides had swollen too large for breathing. He snapped his phone closed and suddenly realized he'd made it half way to school without realizing it. He shook his head and kept walking, the cold winter air feeling especially so this morning. There was nothing more he could do now; he just had to wait for the reply. If it came at all. He shivered, but kept walking, trying to warm up. This was stupid, he knew, but…
I… um… that was nice.
He shivered again and gave the traffic light that was taking forever to change an annoyed look. He wanted to get to school, he wanted to-
He felt his phone go off again and didn't notice the traffic light had changed. Heart pounding, throat tight, he carefully he slid his hand into his pocket and took out his phone.
I have class until 3, let's meet up after that. I'll be in front of the 12th St. building.
Suzaku's heart gave a huge leap and he couldn't help but grin. He quickly sent a reply and closed it again. The light had already changed twice in the time Suzaku had been reading, but he happened to look up just as it was turning green. He crossed the street, feeling happier than he had all morning.
I… I like you too.
"Lelouch?"
"Huh?"
"You're blushing." Lelouch tried to look as bored as possible as he started incredulously back at Kallen. She raised her eyebrows. "Is everything okay?" She asked.
"Yeah, why?" He said, casually pressing his first two fingers between his eyes. Everyone was watching him, and Kallen was about to say something else when-
"I'm going to class, don't want to be late." And with that he gathered his things and left the room, looking dignified. Kallen, Rivalz and Shirley all exchanged looks.
"Since when does he care about being late?" Rivalz asked, genuinely confused.
Classes seem to drag on for both Lelouch and Suzaku that afternoon. Whatever they were there to learn didn't seem nearly as important as their coffee- was it a date?- this afternoon. Lelouch leaned back in his seat, glaring, bored and impatient, at his professors while Suzaku tried and failed to pay attention. In his second, and final, class of the day, he didn't even bother taking notes, but stared, eyes glassy, at his teacher, a woman with red highlights in her dark hair talking animatedly about exactly what she thought of Hegel. Although he probably would have found this very funny normally, today it was excruciating.
Finally it seemed, the class ended, and quick as a flash Suzaku grabbed his books, bag and coat and sprinted from the room. Somehow he managed to put on his coat, put his books back into his bag and get all the way to the first floor at the same time without attracting too much attention. After looking around for a few seconds, he spotted Lelouch leaning against the side of the school building, smoking. Suzaku felt his heart race as he pushed the door open and walked over to him. The sun was already beginning to hang low in the sky, and the gentle light caught Lelouch's face in all the right places. Suzaku's face burned as he approached.
"Hi!" Suzaku said. Lelouch turned, and, in spite of himself, a shy sort of smile appeared on his face.
"Hello," Lelouch said. They both were quiet for a second, then Lelouch spoke again. "There's a really nice coffee place on 4th, right by Union Square, if you like." Suzaku nodded.
"Lead the way." They walked east along 12th St. side by side. "What classes did you have today, anything interesting?" Suzaku asked. Lelouch shrugged.
"I had one of propaganda, that was sort of cool. The rest were just…"
"…Taking up time?" Suzaku offered.
"Exactly." They exchanged a quick look, but then broke the gaze almost immediately. They didn't say anything for a while, although they both wanted to. They were at the corner of 5th avenue and nothing to say, but they'd had so much to say yesterday, what had happened?
Taman nee…
I… um… that was nice.
Lelouch bit his lip and Suzaku shoved his hands into the pockets of his coat awkwardly. He turned to Lelouch.
"What is your major at school? I never did get to ask you." Grateful, Lelouch responded immediately.
"Political science. It's the only major where no one pissed me off." Suzaku laughed.
"It seems like a lot of people piss you off," he said pointedly, still laughing. Lelouch shrugged in an apologetic sort of way.
"It has been said." They talked about school the rest of the way to the coffee shop. Suzaku asked Lelouch about the teachers he'd had so far, if the students who seemed annoying were actually annoying, who to avoid, who to suck up to.
"The weirdest people here," Lelouch was saying as they headed down 4th Avenue, "are the people in the science department. It's run by this professor who's out of her fucking mind. She graduated from here, though, so there you are."
"Ahh."
They had reached a small café with paneling on the walls and steamy windows. It was warm and bright inside, a welcome relief from ever cooling air outside. They ordered drinks and stole a corner table from a pretentious looking couple who were eyeing it from the condiment bar. They sat across from each other and sipped their drinks, and although they weren't saying anything, it didn't feel nearly as awkward.
"So where are you from, originally?" Suzaku asked, sipping his drink. Lelouch took a long sip of his drink before answering.
"I was born in London, but my dad moved us to Boston when I was really young." Suzaku leaned forward in interest.
"London? I've been there a few times with my dad, it's beautiful. Do you still have family there?" Lelouch nodded.
"Yeah but, I don't really see them much." Lelouch took another long sip of his coffee. Suzaku sensed he wanted to talk about something else, so he said, without really thinking,
"Why do you still have that scarf on? It's so warm in here." Lelouch choked on his drink and went very red. "Are you okay?" He asked, concerned and confused.
"I'm okay!" Lelouch snapped. Suzaku watched him curiously, and Lelouch looked back at him, chewing on his lower lip. He seemed to be thinking, or maybe sizing Suzaku up, and then, appearing to make his decision, said, "Come here." Still perplexed, Suzaku leaned forward, and Lelouch used his first two fingers to pull the scarf away from his neck.
"Ooh…" Suzaku breathed guiltily as he saw the blotchy purple bruise just below Lelouch's ear. "I'm sorry that's my fault, isn't it?" Suzaku said quietly, his eyes widening apologetically. Lelouch adjusted the scarf so it covered the bruise again.
"Yes it is," Lelouch replied stiffly, but then he seemed to soften. "It's, it's all right." He blushed and looked away. Suzaku felt himself blushing too.
"I didn't mean to do that, it was just, it felt…" He didn't know what else to say.
"It's all right," Lelouch said again, looking up at Suzaku. "I, I want to ask you something," he asserted suddenly.
"Sure."
"What was the last thing you said to me last night, when we were, at Milly's party."
"I'm not sure, what was it?" Suzaku wracked his brain, trying to remember all that he'd said.
"I'm probably saying this wrong but, taman… nee…?" Now it was Suzaku's turn to choke on his coffee. "Why?" Asked Lelouch, suddenly suspicious. "What does that mean?" Suzaku rubbed the back of his head with his hand, laughing, embarrassed.
"Uh, well…"
"Go on…"
"You… turn me… on…?" Suzaku offered, then looked down and shook his head. Lelouch burst out laughing. "Shut up!" Suzaku whined to him, although he had started to laugh as well. "It's not funny!"
"No no!" Lelouch managed to say, "no it's really funny!"
"Well in my defense it was true at the time!" Suzaku snapped back, and Lelouch stopped laughing at once. He was looking at Suzaku right in the eyes with an odd expression on his face. Suzaku met his gaze, trying to read his face, but he didn't know what to make of it. They continued to look at each other in silence, for how long, they weren't sure. It seemed that the harder Suzaku tried to discern something, anything, from Lelouch, the more closed off and mysterious he became.
'I'll figure you out,' Suzaku thought, still staring at Lelouch. "I should probably start heading home," Suzaku said. Lelouch tilted his head to one side.
"I suppose so. I've got readings to do anyway. I can walk you home though, if that's cool." Suzaku raised his eyebrows.
"If you want to, I'd love that." Finally breaking their stare they both stood up, put on their winter coats and headed back out into the cold. It was very dark now, but they could see the clouds swirling around the night sky, obscuring all the stars. They walked quietly next to each other along 10th St, further away from the bustle of Union Square, out towards quieter streets with smaller shops and restaurants. 3rd Avenue, 2nd, 1st… They began slowing their pace.
"I'm glad you texted me," Lelouch said simply.
"Me too." They stopped outside a small teashop with brightly colored walls and a lucky cat in the window. "This is me, I live above this place," Suzaku said, gesturing at the teashop. There was an intense pause, and then,
"Do you want to come upstairs with me?"
Hahahahah I'm an asshole, I apologize. More next month!
Review me or I'll throw you in the TV!