Lawli: Thanks for reading~

Minutes Per Heartbeat

III.
Lover is Childlike
"She don't ask me no questions
Cause I dont cry no wolf."

The ravine behind Lelouch's house is where they spend most of their time, wiling through the summer days with explorative walks down the winding trail – often taking detours through the thicket (much to Lelouch's protests). One afternoon Suzaku pulls him to a fallen elm, the victim of the previous night's lightening storm. Lelouch stares at the blackened stump with an unreadable expression as Suzaku tests the fallen stump for stability.

"It's sad," Lelouch says, as Suzaku hoists himself up on the trunk.

Suzaku turns to look back at him. "What is?"

Lelouch holds his gaze for a long moment with those too-intense eyes before nodding to the tree. "Just yesterday this was alive, a sign of strength. This tree's probably been here hundreds of years, and now..." His voice trails off.

Suzaku frowns. He crouches down and places his hands on the trunk, feels the scrape of the bark against his palms and then the smoothness of moss growing on the underside of a close branch. "It's still alive," he finally says. "Maybe not in the same way, but look! It's full of life!"

Lelouch does look. Rests his hands on the trunk as well and watches the wind rustle through the still-green leaves. Looks closer and sees little bugs crawling over the bark, searching for food or home on this surface that is in every way the same and different as before the lightening storm.

A ladybug climbs over his ring finger. Lelouch pulls his hand away and examines it. He feels Suzaku come to stand behind him. "It's not the same," he says, going back to his earlier point.

Suzaku reaches around and touches his fingertips to Lelouch's. The ladybug crawls over their nails and into the palm of Suzaku's hand before opening its wings and buzzing off. He smiles. "Does it have to be?"

Before Lelouch can argue Suzaku hoists him up onto the trunk with him. Lelouch gasps and grips the hands around his waist.

Suzaku laughs. "Now it's a bridge," he says, taking Lelouch's hand and leading them over the small stream the elm has fallen over. It had always been too wide to jump over, until now. "You've always wanted to see the other side, right?"

"Suzaku..." Lelouch's cheeks flush an attractive shade of pink. "I'm pretty sure it's private property."

Suzaku shrugs, grins. "We'll be quiet. No one will ever know."

This chapter's music:

"Lover is Childlike" - the Low Anthem